The officials of PGA Tour Champions, Arrow Global Group, Turismo de Portugal, and Turismo de Algarve have announced today a five-year collaboration to host a new professional golf tournament in Portugal. The Portugal Invitational will debut the week of 27 July 2026 and will feature 78 players, including members of the World Golf Hall of Fame and the PGA Tour Champions, as well as members of the Legends Tour.
The event will be the first individual stroke play golf tournament sanctioned by the PGA Tour to be held in Portugal and will feature a prize fund of three million dollars. It will follow the ISPS Handa Senior Open and precede the Staysure Senior PGA Championship of the Legends Tour, in an exciting week of European golf featuring some of the sport’s most iconic players.
“We are thrilled to partner with Arrow Global Group, Turismo de Portugal, Turismo de Algarve, and Ernie Els to announce this exciting PGA Tour Champions event, the first of its kind in Portugal,” said Miller Brady, president of the PGA Tour Champions.
“This tour is a global showcase of the legendary players of this sport, and we know that the great golf fans of Portugal and across Europe will warmly welcome the opportunity to see them compete in person at The Els Club Vilamoura,” he added.
The event will be held at The Els Club Vilamoura, designed by Ernie Els, seven-time PGA Tour Champions winner and member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. The newly redesigned Els Club hosted the Portugal Masters of the DP World Tour from 2007 to 2022, producing winners such as Open champion Shane Lowry (2012) and World Golf Hall of Fame member and current PGA Tour Champions star Padraig Harrington (2016). The only time Portugal hosted a PGA Tour-sanctioned event was in 2005, with the World Cup of Golf, a former team competition.
“Whenever our company designs a golf course, we consider what makes it an ideal tournament venue, so this has always been an important part of our plans for The Els Club Vilamoura. It is wonderful to see those plans come to fruition, and we are very grateful to the president of the PGA Tour Champions, Miller Brady, the team at Arrow Global Group, and Turismo de Portugal and Turismo de Algarve for sharing our vision and bringing this new and exciting tournament here,” said Els.
“It has been a real pleasure working with Arrow Global and the entire Vilamoura team over these past few years; from the start, they had a clear vision and mission, which allowed us to focus our efforts on creating the best possible golf course. We are very proud of this course; it looks incredible. There are many magnificent holes, many memorable holes, and overall, it is a very balanced test of golf. The training facilities are also top-notch. Everything at The Els Club Vilamoura makes it the ideal place to host a tournament. The players are going to love not only the golf course but this entire destination. It is a beautiful part of the world,” he added.
