The Englishman has recorded two consecutive top-10 finishes, while compatriot Tommy Fleetwood is also likely to contend in the Algarve
Matt Fitzpatrick won the British Masters last Sunday and it is quite possible that another Englishman will triumph in the Portugal Masters this week.
Chris Wood and Tommy Fleetwood are the players most likely.
While more experienced than their 21-year-old compatriot, the trio will share the same short-term goal: to enter the top 50 of the world rankings.
That will ensure their participation in golf’s most prestigious events.
If they do so by the year’s end, then their invitation to Augusta National for next year’s Masters will also be guaranteed.
Wood, in particular, is this week primed to win what would be the third European Tour title of his career and second of the season.
His form immediately after his victory at the Lyoness Open in June was modest, but the 27-year-old’s last two starts have yielded finishes of tied fourth and tied ninth at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and British Masters respectively.
Wood has shot six successive rounds in the sixties – an aggregate score of 24 under par – and tied for seventh at Oceanico Victoria last year.
Currently 76th in the rankings and 24th in the Race to Dubai, the Bristolian is 18/1 to improve those positions by triumphing in the Algarve.
Fleetwood, meanwhile, is having a curious season.
Despite missing five of his last eight cuts and recording only one top-10 since May, the 24-year-old remains on course to enjoy his most successful season on tour.
He is currently 18th in the order of merit – having attained a personal-best of 19th last year – and 62nd in the world, while his two tied-13th finishes in successive weeks indicates a return to form.
More than two years on from winning the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, it will not be long before he wins his second Tour title.
Fleetwood is 20/1 to do so in Portugal – an event he tied for 12th at in 2014.
This week’s tournament, which is now in its ninth year, also features two-time major champion Martin Kaymer (12/1), three-time Tour winner Bernd Wiesbeger (12/1) and the in-form Soren Kjeldsen (20/1), in addition to several other recognisable faces.
The field, though, is understandably not as stellar as the one that teed up at Woburn last week.
An ideal opportunity, then, for the fiercely-ambitious Wood and Fleetwood to achieve career-boosting results.
