Ricardo

Gouveia

The 30-year-old, who arrived off a T70 at last week’s Irish Open, was making his tourney debut and second (official) start on the PGA TOUR, first since a missed cut at the 2016 Arnold Palmer Invite on a sponsor exemption. Battling a sore back, he signed for rounds of 64-65-72-70, totaled two eagles, T1 in that stat, and 20 birdies versus seven bogeys, and ranked 23rd SG: Tee-to-Green (4.888) and 18th SG: Putting (3.893), lowlighted by a -1.022 SGP in R4. Gouveia, who represented Portugal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he finished 59th as the 34-seed, is in the published field at this coming week’s opposite-field Barracuda in Truckee, California.

The 30-year-old is making his second (official) start on the PGA TOUR, first since a missed cut at the 2016 Arnold Palmer Invitational on a sponsor exemption (73-74). His other two unofficial results included a 59th at the 2016 Rio Olympics while representing Portugal (as the 34-seed), and he’s won five times around the world in 193 events, including twice last year on the Challenge Tour (in back-to-back starts). Gouveia, who pulled out of yesterday’s pro-am with an injury, commented on it afterwards (link below): “Just from Tuesday to Wednesday, Wednesday morning I just woke up with something on my back and it wasn’t getting any better. Got some treatment yesterday. Didn’t feel great this morning, but warming up felt like it was loosening up, so I just gave it a go and it worked out.” On 12 (of 14) fairways and 17 greens in regulation, the University of Central Florida product lost 0.988 strokes around but gained 1.698 off-the-tee, 2.720 approaching and 2.649 on-the-green with 26 total putts, camouflaging one square (missed par-saver from 5'5") with nine birdies.

The 30-year-old from Portugal looked like a rising star when he finished 54th in the Race to Dubai back in 2016. He settled for Race to Dubai finishes outside of the top 100 in three straight seasons after that to lose his card. The UCF posted middling results during 2020 on the Challenge Tour but really kicked it up a notch in 2021. Gouveia tossed together nine top 10s in 21 events played with six of those being podium finishes (two wins). That was good for 2nd place on the 2021 Road to Mallorca Rankings. Gamers should watch very closely early in the year to see if he can snowball that momentum on the DP World Tour.

Earlier defeats to England (1-3) and Scotland (1-2) meant their exit had already been confirmed before Session 3 but they gave the local galleries some cheer by beating S.S.P. Chawrasia and Gaganjeet Bhullar thanks to a closing birdie-2 at the final hole. India had birdied the first to take the lead but Portugal hit back with their own red circle at the next. Three pars kept the contest at 1-1 before Portugal’s late winner. India beat England in Session 2 but two defeats out of three meant they ended the group in third and were eliminated.

The solid run of form which saw the Portuguese player secure his card at the end of 2018 continued briefly this campaign but it has suddenly ground to a halt. He made four top 20s in five starts during that spell, ending with T20 in the Hong Kong Open and he was T40 in the Australian PGA Championship. But three missed cuts followed in the Vic Open, World Super 6 Perth and Oman Open last week. He’ll hope to resuscitate his form at the scene of his T7 in 2016 (when he topped the Putt Averages). He missed the cut 12 months later and was T61 last year.

The Portuguese star looked unlikely to have a European Tour card for this season after struggling for much of last year but rallied with T7 in his home Portugal Masters, T9 in the British Masters and T16 in the Andalucia Masters. He then kicked off the new campaign with T20 in the Hong Kong Open before heading Down Under to take T40 in the Australian PGA Championship. After a two-month break, he’s back in Oz again so will hope he can find the same spark of late 2018 which reminded us of the form he displayed when finishing 54th on the 2016 Race to Dubai.

The Portuguese is more than on home soil this week: he actually plays out of the host club and he needs the local knowledge because he is ailing at 132nd on the Race to Dubai. For most of the day it looked as is he would be closer to the leaders. He had played the back nine first and exchanged four late birdies (at 13, 15, 17 and 18) with a bogey at the 14th. Then on the back nine he maintained the pace, ticking 1, 2 and 3, then 5 and 6. In all that was nine circles in 12 holes. But he made a triple bogey-7 at the 442-yard par-4 ninth, as he experienced a hopefully brief attack of the chipping yips.

There are few experiences on the European Tour likes the first time at Crans Montana, but the 25-year-old Portuguese player is no stranger to Alpine scenery because he made three visits to land-locked Switzerland when on the Challenge Tour, finishing T13-T10-T2 on courses in Geneva and Lucerne, and across the border in Alpine Austria he finished T6 on yet another course with a backdrops of towering mountains. He arrives fresh off seven straight weekends of golf and has been an impressive rookie this term, following graduation as #1 on the 2015 Challenge Tour rankings. He’s 79th on the Race to Dubai, testimony to his consistency rather than excelling at any point, although his T8 last week in Denmark might hint at growing confidence: it was the first time at this level he had posted four sub-70 rounds - and, indeed, the first time he has done so since finishing T2 in Geneva 12 months ago.

Those 18 holes without a blemish puts the Portuguese in T7. His birdies came early (2, 3 and 4) but, despite the red numbers drying up, it was an easy ride around the par 72 Diamond Country Club today as Gouveia hit 17 greens in regulation so didn’t put himself under pressure. This is the rookie’s first appearance in the Lyoness although he has had recent success in Austria after finishing sixth in the Challenge Tour’s Karnten Golf Open last year.

Gouveia only just scraped into this week’s field after taking T13 in the Turkish Airlines Open on Sunday, punching his ticket thanks to a closing 67. That puts him 83rd on the Race to Dubai so his mission on his first start at Gary Player Country Club is to jump 23 spots and make the top 60 who will contest the season closer. The Portuguese has accumulated seven top 25s this season including two in his last two starts. The first came in South Africa last November via T18 in the Alfred Dunhill Championship.