Hoey’s Houdini in Portugal
It just keeps getting better and better for Irish Golf after 29 year old Northern Irish man, Michael Hoey, won the Estoril de Portugal Open in a play-off against Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, after both men finished on 7 under. It is fantastic to see Hoey doing so well after a few disappointing seasons and this win gives him an all important 2-year exemption on the tour.
Hoey was born in Ballymoney. He won the British Amateur Championship in 2001 and was a member of the victorious 2001 Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team. As British Amateur Champion, he was invited to play in the US Masters in 2002, where he missed the cut by a single stroke. He turned professional later that year.
Until 2009, Hoey had struggled to secure his place on the main European Tour and has mostly competed on the second tier Challenge Tour where he has three tournament victories. He finished 8th on the end of season rankings in 2005, which gave him automatic promotion to the European Tour. Following a largely unsuccessful debut season in 2006, he returned to the Challenge Tour the following year. He regained his playing privileges on the European Tour for the 2009 season at final qualifying school.
It must be a huge relief for Hoey now to have his playing rights guaranteed for the next couple of years and hopefully, with a little pressure off him, he can push on and become one of the recognised global players of the game. At 29 years of age, time is certainly still on his side.
It was also the first time Gonzalo Fernandez Castano lost a playoff. He had won all four that he played before that. He won his last three competitions through playoffs