Paul Broadhurst’s bid to win a third successive Estoril Open de Portugal this week offers the Englishman the opportunity to join a truly elite group of players as just the sixth man in European Tour history to win the same tournament three times in a row.
Only Ernie Els, Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie, Tiger Woods and Ian Woosnam have achieved that feat up until now, and if Broadhurst can emerge the victor at Quinta da Marinha Oitavos Golfe, Estoril, the scene of his first Open de Portugal win in 2005, he would be in the company of five of the game’s greatest players.
Woosnam was the first of that aforementioned ‘Famous Five’ to record three successive wins at the 1992 Monte Carlo Open, with Faldo joining the Welshman the next season after securing a third consecutive Irish Open.
Next up was Montgomerie at the PGA Championship (1998-2000), followed by World Number One Woods with his three WGC – NEC Invitational titles (1999-2001), a feat he repeated on Sunday with his third successive WGC – CA Championship title, and finally Els completed the quintet at the Heineken Classic (2002-2004).
Between them, Els, Faldo, Montgomerie, Woods and Woosnam have amassed 143 European Tour titles. The fact that Broadhurst has the chance to join those five golfing giants is an achievement in itself.
The 41 year old has given himself the chance to win his third Estoril Open de Portugal after winning the 2005 edition at Quinta da Marinha Oitavos Golfe, and last year’s tournament at Le Meridien Penina.
“I just want to get off to a good a start and if I can get into contention, hopefully the experience of the last two years will pull me through,” said Broadhurst.
“To win it twice was brilliant and it would be fantastic to win for a third time and join that list of players. I didn’t get the chance to defend at Oitavos last year but it’s good to be back there again. It’s a tough golf course with a really tough finish.”
The majority of people who recall the 2005 Estroil Open de Portugal will remember the event for its dramatic climax over Oitavos Golfe’s notoriously difficult closing holes, when Scotland’s Paul Lawrie triple bogeyed the 17th to finish in second place before Barry Lane of England ran up a nine at the 18th to ensure Broadhurst took the title.
That memory is a vivid one for Broadhurst, but his most striking recollection from that week came a couple of hours before the tournament’s unbelievable finish.
“What I remember most about winning at Oitavos was a comment made by this elderly Portuguese man during my final round,” recalled Broadhurst. “I was on the 11th tee looking back down the tenth when he came up to me and said, ‘You are going to win’. I was four behind at the time and I said, ‘You might be being a bit optimistic’. He repeated that I would win it and at the end, when I did, he came up to me and said, ‘I told you so’.”
Broadhurst will, of course, meet strong resistance this week from a hugely exciting field that contains 61 European Tour winners including 1999 Open Champion Lawrie and Ryder Cup player Paul McGinley of Ireland.
Also among those 61 champions are many of Europe’s new generation of golf stars such as Spain’s Alejandro Cañizares, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño, José Manuel Lara and Alvaro Quiros, as well as England’s Nick Dougherty, South Africans Anton Haig and Charl Schwartzel, and Scotland’s Marc Warren – not to mention Portugal’s own José-Filipe Lima, who delighted the home crowds at the Quinta da Marinha Oitavos Golfe two years ago with a rousing performance that saw him finish in third place.
