The European Tour's South American adventure reaches the vast urban expanse of Sao Paulo - now the world's third largest city with a population of more than 20 million inhabitants - for the Brazil Sao Paulo 500 Year Open this week.
Sao Paulo Golf Club will stage the latest tournament in Brazil following a highly successful week in the baking heat and humidity of Rio for the Brazil Rio de Janeiro 500 Years Open won by Roger Chapman. Chapman is again joined in the field by Padraig Harrington whom he defeated in a sudden-death play-off.
The history of Sao Paulo Golf Club mingles with that of Brazilian golf itself. The Club was founded in 1901 by British engineers, many of them Scottish, who were building the Sao Paulo Railway.
The course was built on a "nice" hill, surrounded by the huge residences of the coffee "barons", and the club soon became a meeting place for many families, many of them British, which explains why the area is still known today as the "British Hill".
In fact, in 1915 the Club had to move to a less crowded area where it still stands today. The course, designed by the Canadian architect, Stanley Thompson, is both traditional and competitive and one on which Mark James won the Sao Paulo Open in 1981.
Ken Schofield, Executive Director of the European Tour, has emphasised the wish to explore new territories and expand the boundaries of the Tour, and the two-week visit to Brazil has been an unqualified success.
Schofield said: "These tournaments provide further impetus to our drive to internationalise the game of golf. We sincerely congratulate and thank the Brazilian Golf Confederation and Joao Lagos Sports for their unique initiative in providing this new location for European Tour competition.
"We also congratulate Itanhangá and Sao Paulo Golf Clubs in becoming hosts to official European Tour events in South America."
The countdown in Brazil has already begun to the 500th anniversary of the discovery of this huge country - twice the size of India - by Portuguese sailor, Alvares Cabral. The celebrations begin in less than a month, and are threatening to rival the famous Rio de Janeiro Carnival, held each March.
Costantino Rocca, a two-time Ryder Cup player, heads the list of entries for Sao Paulo in Category 1 while Mercedes Benz - South African Open champion, Mathias Grönberg and Dubai Desert Classic winner, José Coceres of Argentina will tee it up for a second week in Brazil.
Jarmo Sandelin, who, like Harrington, played in the 1999 Ryder Cup match at The Country Club, is also in the field playing his final event before the Seve Ballesteros Trophy.
