Every year, since 1993, Santo da Serra Golf hosts the Madeira Island Open, part of the PGA European Tour.

The success of the previous tournaments has attracted the participation of the most prestigious golf players of the European Tour, such as Severiano Ballesteros, Lee Westwood, Retief Goosen, Mark James, Paul Lawrie, Sam Torrance, Constantino Rocca, Jarmo Sandelin and Alex Cejka.

The Madeira Island Open has prize money of Euros 550.000

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1993 — Mark James (Ing.)
1994 — Matts Lanner (Swe.)
1995 — Santiago Luna (Esp.)
1996 — Jarmo Sandelim (Swe.)
1997 — Peter Mitchell (Ing.)
1998 — Matts Lanner (Swe.)
1999 — Pedro Lindhart (Esp.)
2000 — Niclas Fasth (Swe.)
2001 — Des Smyth (Ire.)
2002 — Diego Borrego (Esp)

"It was a great honour to play on the Madeira Island Open, the course is fantastic, the Clubhouse very beautiful, the food even better and the caring phenomenal. I hope to return..."
Severiano Ballesteros, March 19th, 2001

"Santo da Serra is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular courses on the European Tour. Fine views of mountain tops and the Atlantic Ocean only add to the enjoyment of playing this course"
The EUROPEAN TOUR YEARBOOK 2001, Official European Tour Publication

"The course is extremely picturesque, with stunning sea views".
EUROPEANTOUR.COM - Official website of the PGA European Tour

"The Santo da Serra course was redesigned by Robert Trent Jones... and ranks among the most spectacularly scenic venues on the European Tour. Pine, mimosa and eucalyptus trees and exotic flowering shrubs add to the beauty of the steeply undulating course, which also boasts difficult, demanding greens."
European Tour News - Official Publication of the European Tour

Article taken from THE TIMES
MONDAY MARCH 19 2001


Age proves no barrier as Smyth sets Tour record
(From MEL WEBB in Santo da Serra)

THE veteran was happy to be sharing the lead on 66. It was nice to have matched the youngsters for a round or so, he said, but there was no way he could stay with them in the long run. That was on Thursday, and yesterday Des Smyth showed just how much he had underestimated himself by becoming the oldest winner in the history of the European tour.

When Smyth tapped in his short putt on the final green at the Madeira Island Open for another 66 and so claim his eighth European title and his first for eight years with a total of 270, 18 under par, he was, at 48 years and 34 days, 22 days older than Neil Coles had been when he won the Sanyo Open in 1982. Smyth beat John Bickerton, 17 years his junior, into second place by two strokes with the Italian pair of Massimo Scarpa and Massimo Florioli, the overnight leader, Stephen Dodd, the former British Amateur champion, and Niclas Fasth, the defending champion, two further adrift.

At the start of the tournament, Smyth said he continued to play a full schedule to keep his game sharp for a second career on the Seniors Tour in two years, but his main ambition was to keep his player’s card. The exemption he won here — the rest of this season plus two years — means he need not worry about the latter until after he has qualified for the former.

"Going into the last round I was almost afraid to think about winning," he said after becoming one of those rare birds, a winner in four different decades. "You chase that dream for so long that when it finally happens, you can’t really believe it. It’ll be a few days before I take this one in. It’s nice to have the exemption, but I’ll be ready for the seniors at 50. I’ve had all the chances I need on this tour. I went down to breakfast the other morning and I was the oldest in the room by about 20 years. I think it’s time to move on."

His game-plan — "the aim was to fire from the start", he said — went awry at the first hole, where he three-putted for a bogey to reduce him to 11 under par, four strokes behind Florioli. A birdie followed at the 3rd, but the moment that the tide for him turned came at the 7th.

He hit what was, by his own admission, a dreadful drive deep into trees. He had no shot forwards but, spotting a gap over the timber, opted for the high-risk strategy, opened up the face of a wedge, swung and, somehow, managed to find the fairway again. He then completed the recovery by hitting a seven-iron onto the green and holing a four-foot putt for a birdie four.
If that was the stroke that saved him from losing the title, the one that won it was the four-iron second shot at the 571-yard 11th that left him with a putt from no more than a foot for an eagle. The dogged Fasth had birdies on the 14th, 15th and 16th — but so did Smyth. It was, all in all, a day when an old dog did not need to be taught new tricks — the ones he knew already were quite enough.

THE TIMES