TOLEDO, Ohio – Feb. 23, 2005 – Oitavos Golfe at Quinta da Marinha, Europe's most talked about new resort layout, will play host to the 2005 Estoril Open de Portugal Caixa Geral de Depositos, the European PGA Tour event scheduled for week of March 30-April 2.
Designed by Toledo, Ohio-based Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest & Associates, Oitavos Golfe opened for resort play in 2001, and quickly hosted a pair of European PGA Senior tournaments, in 2003 and 2004. Golf Digest has already named the seaside Oitavos among the top 5 courses in Portugal, but the 2005 Portuguese Open will serve as its coming out party for North American viewers of The Golf Channel's live European PGA Tour coverage.
"I think the course will hold up well, especially if the wind is up, but it's difficult to think about scoring on a course this beautiful," said Arthur Hills, who collaborated with partner and senior design associate Drew Rogers on the Oitavos project. "We try to build our golf courses according to the site and our client here, Miguel Champalimaud, blessed us with one of the finest pieces of golfing terrain anywhere in Continental Europe. There are six or seven very demanding shots out there, but if the wind blows that figure doubles or triples. Nearly every hole at Oitavos has a view of the Atlantic, so the wind is always blowing."
Oitavos Golfe at Quinta da Marinha is located 30 minutes from the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, just outside the resort village of Cascais. Developed by three generations of the Champalimaud family, the Quinta da Marinha resort community is located entirely within the Sintra-Cascais National Park. It is considered the most exclusive golf and leisure development in Portugal, with equestrian, tennis, golf and spa facilities set amid stands of rare umbrella pines high above the dunes.
It is the golf course that takes best advantage of the dunes themselves. While all 18 holes offer ocean views, the middle portion of the out-and-back design plays through this stunning natural dunescape in full view the cliffs at Cabo da Rocha, the westernmost point in Continental Europe.
"The site at Quinta da Marinha is as diverse as any I have ever been associated with," said Rogers, whose Hills/Forrest designs include the Legends Course at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla., Mirasol G&CC in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. (site of the 2003 Honda Classic), and Newport National GC in Middletown, R.I. "Oitavos was arranged on transitional ground that links the nearby hills of Sintra and the beaches of Guincho along the Atlantic Ocean. Much of the terrain is rocky and rugged. Some areas are massed with Iberian umbrella pines, which are highly prized here, but the rest of the site is covered with fabulous sand dunes, deposited by years of coastal wind erosion.
"On the 5th tee, players emerge from the pines; that's where the wind really hits them. How the Tour players fare at Oitavos is completely dependent on just how hard it hits them. If it howls - and a steady 20 knots is not unreasonable for March - they could have quite a time out there."
Englishman Carl Mason won the 2003 European PGA Seniors event at Oitavos with a 54-hole total of 11-under par, though the runner-up finished at 3-under and just six competitors broke par. Last year's winner, Scot John Chillas, posted 6-under.
Oitavos can test the very best players from its tournament tees. The 434-meter (476-yard) par-4 5th plays directly into the prevailing wind, as do the two par-5s on the front side, 7 and 8. The finishing hole, another difficult par-4 measuring 434 meters, bends left while the terrain falls away to right, requiring players to shape their drives perfectly to find the fairway.
While it has plenty of teeth, Oitavos Golfe is better known for its smile. This is one of Europe's most beautiful tracks, highlighted by 14 and 15 - back-to-back par-3s the equal of any in the world. The 170-yard 14th plays over a barranca to a green framed left by the dunes and right by the distant cliffs of Cabo da Rocha. In between, behind the green itself, lies the Atlantic's endless blue horizon. The 186-yard 15th plays away from the water to a comely putting surface set within a natural amphitheater of dunes, pine copses and sandy scrub.
"I may be a little prejudiced, but they're both absolute dandies - two par-3s as good as you'll see anywhere," Rogers said. "What I love about them is they're laid out side by side but they're so utterly different in style - and completely hidden from each other. They also play in opposite directions, so the wind always helps and hurts, but you never know which will be which on a given day."
For the 2005 Estoril Open de Portugal Caixa Geral de Depositos, Oitavos will be stretched to its full distance (6,303 meters, or 6,893 yards) and play to a par of 71. There are no Tiger Tees at Oitavos. Indeed, Rogers admits that attracting a professional tournament to Oitavos, much less a European PGA Tour event, was never the goal.
"Oddly enough, it was never contemplated seriously," he said. "There were times during construction when we walked the terrain and I'd ask Arthur what we might do to move a gallery through here - but we take that sort of thing into consideration on most projects. At Oitavos the overriding issue was to preserve the environment, maintain all the characteristics inherent to this remarkable site, and blend them best with the golf course features. This golf course was never going to be altered to host an event.
"I must admit, we've been surprised at all the tournaments bids Oitavos has received - but we weren't at all surprised that it received Gold Signature status from Audubon International."
Shortly after it opened, Oitavos was named a Certified Gold Audubon Signature Sanctuary, the highest designation awarded by Audubon International's Signature Sanctuary Program, golf's strictest and most prestigious environmental management program. Oitavos Golfe is the first and only course in Europe to boast Gold Signature status; there are only eight worldwide.
"Much of the planning of the golf course involved protection of endangered plant species, maintenance of wildlife habitat (and their migration routes), nesting sites and food sources," Rogers explained. "Audubon also developed a very strict regimen of maintenance practices for us, intended to protect the rich, native environment and this very sensitive ecosystem. Our own efforts included the careful replacement and re-vegetation of the areas on site disturbed during construction. Once these areas were identified by the development team, they were replanted with native vegetation as the course was being finished. In many cases, we restored dunes that had been damaged long before the onset of course construction."
Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest & Associates is one of golf's most prolific and respected course designers, with 180 courses to its name and projects under construction on five continents. Hills/Forrest was recently commissioned to design its first course in Bahrain, and the firm has projects under construction in Mexico, China and Sweden. The eagerly awaited Hills Golf Club will celebrate its grand opening this September, just north of Gothenberg, while Olde Stone, an exquisite new private club project, is nearing completion in western Kentucky.
For more information on these and other Hills/Forrest projects, call 419-841-8553 or visit www.arthurhills.com
Contact:
Hal Phillips
Phillips Golf Media
207-926-3700
onintwo@maine.rr.com
Quentin Lutz
Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest & Associates
419-841-8553
QLutz@ArthurHills.com
