Andy DevaneyThe Portugal Invitational was designed to show that The Els Club Vilamoura could handle championship golf.
A month after Zach Johnson became its first winner, the more interesting result belongs to Ernie Els: a place he first knew as a family holiday retreat has now staged the first PGA TOUR Champions event in Portugal before an international television audience.
Zach Johnson won the trophy. Els got the evidence
Johnson’s name sits first in the record book, as it should. Yet the inaugural event was also a test of whether a new European outpost bearing Els’ name could look credible once Major champions, Ryder Cup veterans and World Golf Hall of Fame members arrived with scorecards rather than architectural drawings.
All three rounds were shown live in the United States on GOLF Channel and in Portugal on Sport TV, while PGA TOUR Champions coverage extended to more than 170 countries and territories through the Tour’s media network.
For a tournament making its debut, that is useful reach. For Vilamoura, it was more practical: evidence that the course, clubhouse and surrounding operation could carry a televised professional event without feeling like a very expensive dress rehearsal.
Vilamoura was personal before it became strategic
Els’ attachment to the Algarve predates the golf project by decades.
“My history with this area goes back more than 25 years,” says Els. “When my family and I lived in the UK, this was our holiday destination. I knew the area well long before this project ever existed.”
That history matters because The Els Club Vilamoura is not simply a famous golfer planting a flag on agreeable real estate. Els already knew the climate, food and hospitality, and his ambitions grew from familiarity rather than a glossy brochure and a drone shot at sunset.
When the chance came to create the first Els Club in Europe, Vilamoura was less a discovery than a return.
The course had to work beyond television
Els and Greg Letsche, Senior Design Associate and partner at Ernie Els Design, reworked the former Arnold Palmer layout with two ideas that can sit awkwardly together: championship demands and everyday playability.
“From the very beginning, we wanted to build a championship golf course, but also one that everyone could enjoy. We wanted players to have options and experience different ways of playing the game.”
That emphasis on options is the telling detail. Tournament courses can become rather joyless when every hole appears designed to interrogate a handicap certificate. Els’ stated aim was broader: enough strategic interest for elite players, without turning a holiday round into an apology.
The wider concept was family-led too. Els wanted the club to sit inside a destination capable of recreating the sort of Algarve holidays his own family had enjoyed, rather than existing as an isolated shrine to low handicaps.
The Portugal Invitational became the proof of concept
Hosting PGA TOUR Champions had been part of the ambition as the project developed. The inaugural Portugal Invitational was the moment the theory acquired spectators, television cameras and consequences.
“It was a very momentous week for us. So much work had gone into the golf course, the clubhouse and the whole infrastructure. Seeing it all come together was something we’re incredibly proud of.
“I’ve been talking this up all the way since last year’s opening, how great this area is and I think everybody’s had a good time, so I’m very thankful to have pulled this one off.”
The backing was substantial, with partners ranging from Arrow Global, Vilamoura, Visit Portugal and Visit Algarve to Mercedes-Benz, Deloitte, Heineken and Nespresso. Media partners included SIC Notícias, Expresso, Sport TV and JCDecaux.
That breadth does not guarantee a tournament’s future. Golf has seen enough ambitious launches to know that a handsome first week is only the opening paragraph. But it gives the Portugal Invitational a base from which to become something more durable.
The next test is already booked
The Portugal Invitational is scheduled to return to Vilamoura in 2027. A repeat edition turns a successful debut into the beginnings of a fixture.
Els is already looking beyond the first staging. “We’re on our way. This was the first big step, but there’s much more to come.”
The harder trick is making sure the second act feels inevitable rather than merely optimistic.
For now, Zach Johnson owns the first trophy. Ernie Els has something less shiny but potentially more valuable: proof that his long relationship with Vilamoura can carry a serious golf tournament.
