Comporta, the last virgin territory in Europe, acclaimed and praised by Madonna, Sarkozy and Christian Louboutin, among others, has found in Sergio García an ambassador to turn this exclusive corner into a golf destination, which before 2030 will concentrate in just 15 kilometers four fields. It will be the first project of the now captain of the Fireballs in LIV Golf in Western Europe.
Next fall, the Vanguard group will present its latest club, Torre, which aims to be the world benchmark for golf courses in sustainability. Built next to the rice fields, one km away from the beach, the limit that the ordinance allows as it is a protected area, the technology “will allow the most sophisticated project in Europe in water collection, energy and construction,” José warns. Cardoso, CEO of the Portuguese conglomerate that acquired several properties in the area after the bankruptcy of Banco Espirito Santo in December 2019.
Torre is the younger brother of Dunas, opening in October 2023 with the design of David McLay-Kidd (par 71). With an area three times smaller than the course that has already made it into the top 10 in continental Europe, Sergio has had to work hard to fit into 365 hectares a work that bears his stamp. “I like courses with small greens and doglegs,” confesses the winner of the Augusta Masters. “And then I’ve tried to play with narrow and wide fairways, depending on the hole, and add some things that I like.” And he cites as an example the par 4 of the 4th hole “because you can get from one to the green” and something that has always been in his head. “I’ve always liked short par 3s. The 5 isn’t more than 160 yards, but it has a lot of possibilities.”
View of Torre de Comporta
Torre is much more than 18 holes where there has not had to be any major earthworks and the dune landscape has been respected to the maximum. Both Cardoso and his French partner Claude Berda, one of the greatest French fortunes, were clear about what they wanted from the first moment: to create something exclusive, not so much because of its price, but because of respect for nature. It was a vision as direct as the way they sealed their first agreement in Lisbon in 2015.
“It was Saturday. October 10. He had come to see me in Lisbon and we had been eating some tapas in the city,” Cardoso remembers. “Then we were taking a walk and I told him, let’s take a selfie (in the Graça neighborhood). It was the first one I had ever taken in my life. And in the photo, behind us, a sign appeared that said ‘For sale.’ “The farm was beautiful and Claude told me: You know, I’ve always liked this city. Why don’t we buy it? And we shook hands and that’s where our relationship began.”
In this commitment to Comporta, south of Lisbon, the Portuguese Hamptons in the ‘filtrum’ of the Iberian Peninsula, the obligation is sustainability. Two luxury hotels and a handful of residences are going to be built, all made of wood, where the owners will collaborate in their elevation, always respecting the harmony and guidelines set by the extreme care of nature. “Wood absorbs CO2,” recalls Cardoso. “And that benefits the ecosystem unlike concrete does.” The water is extracted from wells, but will then be recycled for irrigation of gardens and the golf course; The electrical energy will come from solar panels and we will plant more trees to give back positively to nature what we borrow from it.” Between Dunas and Torre, you will also be able to practice another 27 sports such as paddle tennis, thanks to the implementation of two academies. tennis, pickleball and will even have a soccer field.
Sergio García, flanked by the two partners José Cardoso and Alexandre BerdaTERRAS DE COMPORTA
With the arrival of spring, Torre will welcome some privileged guests before the October opening. The interest in the area from Spaniards – “many from Madrid”, they say -, Nordics, Swiss, French, Americans and Brazilians has turned the place into a truly interesting multicultural area.
In this corner of the world, where seconds dissolve like drops in the ocean of silence, golf has an unavoidable meeting point, one more argument to enjoy a place where sunsets end up on social networks and dinners invite to think that modernity still has unbreakable spaces.
