Ryder Cup players line up for Portugal Masters

Five of Europe s Ryder Cup Team will headline the Portugal Masters at the Oceânico Victoria Golf Club on the country s Algarve coast, from October 16-19.

Miguel Angel Jiménez, Robert Karlsson, Graeme McDowell, Lee Westwood and Oliver Wilson will all tee up in the 3,000,000 event, which will see The European Tour visit Portugal for the third time in 2008.

Swede Karlsson and Northern Ireland s McDowell were two of Europe s top performers at Valhalla, picking up 2 and 2½ points respectively. Both have won on The European Tour this season, Karlsson lifting the title at the last event prior to The Ryder Cup the Mercedes-Benz Championship - and McDowell claiming two victories, at the Ballantine s Championship in Korea and The Barclays Scottish Open.

Rising star Wilson showed that he can compete at the very highest level when he and Henrik Stenson defeated Anthony Kim and Phil Mickelson in Kentucky, before he valiantly lost to the on-fire Boo Weekley in the singles, and the Portugal Masters offers another opportunity for him to make his winning breakthrough.

For Ryder Cup veterans Jiménez and Westwood, the Portugal Masters represents another chance to close the gap on top two Padraig Harrington and Karlsson on The European Tour Order of Merit.

Spaniard Jiménez is chasing his third win of the season following his victory at the UBS Hong Kong Open last November and the BMW PGA Championship in May, while Westwood has enjoyed another strong season, highlighted by his third place at the US Open Championship in July.

Englishman Westwood will be particularly keen to land victory on the Algarve as he is sponsored by Oceânico, the owners of Victoria Clube de Golfe.

He will be joined by fellow Oceânico players Paul Broadhurst, Darren Clarke, David Howell and Paul McGinley in the impressive line-up.

England s Broadhurst has enjoyed plenty of success in Portugal, having won the Estoril Open de Portugal Caixa Geral de Depositos in 2005 and the Algarve Open de Portugal Caixa Geral de Depositos in 2006.

Compatriot Howell lost in a three-man play-off to Grégory Bourdy the last time The European Tour visited Portugal for the Estoril Open de Portugal, a tournament where Ireland s McGinley finished tied seventh, and both will be looking to repeat that sort of form at the Oceânico Victoria Golf Club..

So too will Bradley Dredge and Stephen Dodd, who won the WGC World Cup for Wales at the Arnold Palmer designed Victoria course in 2005.

Europe s Ryder Cup quintet will also be joined in the field by Germany s Martin Kaymer, who travelled with Nick Faldo s Team to acquire some vital experience having just missed out on qualifying himself.

Kaymer, a two time winner on The European Tour this season, will be bidding for hat-trick of titles following his victories at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship in January and the BMW International Open in his homeland in June.

Argentine Angel Cabrera, the 2007 US Open Champion, has already confirmed he will tee up at the Oceânico Victoria Clube de Golfe, along with defending champion Steve Webster.

The Portugal Masters is part of ALLGARVE 2008, a summer programme of world class art, music and sporting events being hosted on Portugal s south coast and follows two previous European Tour events held in the country this season - the Madeira Islands Open BPI and the Estoril Open de Portugal.

Portugal will also host the European Seniors Tour Qualifying School at three separate venues in November.