Rick Gibson will be the highest placed man in the European Senior Tour Order of Merit to tee it up at the Senior Open de Portugal as he looks to build on his third place on the season-long list with a second win of the season at Vidago Palace.
The Canadian picked up a maiden piece of silverware at the Bad Ragaz PGA Seniors Open back in July when he triumphed by six strokes over Ireland’s Denis O’Sullivan in Switzerland, and has continued that form since, posting a further three top ten finishes.
He followed his success at Golf Club Bad Ragaz with an almost equally impressive turn at Royal Porthcawl en route to a share of third at The Senior Open Championship presented by Rolex, behind the two men who are ahead of him in the race for the John Jacobs Trophy – Bernhard Langer and Colin Montgomerie.
He would also go on to post a tie for ninth a fortnight ago at the Travis Perkins Masters, before last week in Russia, where he would once again finish behind Montgomerie as the Scot picked up a fifth win of the campaign, but as his nearest competitor at Moscow Country Club, Gibson will head to the Portuguese city of Porto in high spirits.
Three more men arriving on Portugal’s north-western coast in good form will be a trio of big names that also fared well in the Russian capital last week.
Miguel Angel Martin has not finished outside the top 23 in his previous five starts, and his tie for third last week was a continuation of that. Alongside the Spaniard this past weekend was also Andrew Oldcorn, who himself finished in a tie for second at the English Senior Open, as he looks to add to the only Senior Tour title he picked up over three years ago at the PGA Seniors Championship.
Just a year ago Paul Wesselingh was putting together the best season of his career, claiming four wins en route to finishing the year Senior Tour Number One, but 2014 has not quite been so successful thus far.
The Englishman will hope to return to top form this week, while the man who finished runner-up to him last year – Steen Tinning – will also hope to pick up his first piece of silverware this year.
In his 29 European Tour victories Ian Woosnam never picked up a title on Portuguese soil, and he will look to remedy that this week in search of his first win since 2011, while Tim Thelen, an alumni of Montgomerie from Houston Baptist University, will also be in the field following two top three finishes in a row, as he headlines a seven-strong US contingent.
Stephen McAllister will also tee it up at Vidago Palace 24 years after the Scot claimed a maiden European Tour title in Porto, thanks to his victory in a six-way play-off for the Vinho Verde Atlantic Open back in 1990.
