European Tour Insider: Kjeldsen's a rising star

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Soren Kjedsen -- a three-time winner on the European Tour -- will play in his first Masters next week.

Editor's note: Nick Dye is going to be giving PGATOUR.COM viewers an inside look at what's happening on the European Tour. Dye, who works with European Tour Radio, will be at more than 30 events this year and will file weekly columns on Wednesdays.

CASCAIS, Portugal -- Soren Kjeldsen is Augusta-bound next week for the first time in his career.

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"Going there after a win, it's a dream scenario, isn't it?"

The diminutive Dane -- at 5-foot-7 one of the shortest players on the European Tour -- was speaking on completion of his third victory in just over 11 years of playing at Europe's top level.

Having claimed the final event of the 2008 season, the Volvo Masters, and secured a best-ever 10th place finish in the Order of Merit, his win at last week's Open de Andalucia confirms he's one of the rising stars of the game.

The win came on the back of a career-best finish in the United States as Kjeldsen placed seventh at the World Golf Championships-CA Championship.

After a 62 to forge clear on day three in Seville, he had a huge tussle with trying windy conditions and Scotland's David Drysdale before securing the title, but he looks to be at his most confident ever on a golf course.

"The last six months have been great for me, and there's no doubt that I'm more comfortable than I've ever been," he said. "My game's in better shape than it's ever been, and winning Valderrama and winning this one is going to make me very happy and know that I'm going in the right direction, so it wouldn't be an overstatement I think."

BOUND FOR THE BEACH

Drysdale is looking forward to a November spent on the beach, or indeed at the Dubai World Championship. He'll go with the best wishes of almost everybody, because he has to be one of the unluckiest players in Europe.

OK, realistically he simply hasn't played quite well enough in the past, but at the end of both 2005 and the following year he finished just one place shy of those who kept their playing privileges, and he lost out by minimal amounts of money too.

In 2005, he also missed out by a measly one-stroke margin at qualifying school.

The 34-year-old then survived the agonies of q-school to return to the Tour in each of the last three seasons and vowed he wouldn't be going back again, if he could help it.

With a third-place finish in South Africa and now a runner-up spot in Spain, he should have other things on his mind come the end of this year.

RHYS TO BE CHEERFUL

In a season when we've seen the young guns shooting for the stars, throw another name into the ring.

The 23-year-old Welshman Rhys Davies came to prominence as an amateur when he qualified for the U.S. Open at Oakmont, winning the stage in Maryland in 2007.

While studying for a business degree at East Tennessee State, he'd equaled Graeme McDowell's record as a player from the UK by reaching No. 1 in the amateur ranks in America.

He seems to have come of age in the pro game in recent weeks. He's followed a second-place finish at the Thailand Open with a top-six placing in Seville.

MORGAN GETS HIS FREAK ON

Remember a young Brit called John Morgan? (His name is usually written John E. Morgan to distinguish him from others of the same name.)

He played the PGA TOUR in 2003 having come through q-school, and became only the second rookie to have full playing rights on both sides of the pond. He was beaten in a playoff at the John Deere Classic the following year.

But a month afterwards, heading for the Reno-Tahoe Open, he suffered an epileptic seizure on the plane. It was so violent he broke the seatbelt and cracked several ribs, damaging muscle around his sternum in the process.

It wasn't until 2006 that he felt well enough to try to rebuild his career -- and he's now earned his best finish on the European Tour with a top-10 in Seville.

He'd been unable to get into many tournaments since graduating from the Challenge Tour last year so he's been chilling out at home. Ever the joker, the Bristolian said in his West Country burr: "I've been having time with the baby. She's becoming a hell of a character, and my missus is worried that she's going to be exactly like me."

PORTUGAL PORT OF CALL

Morgan, Davies and others have flown west and back to Portugal for the latest event on the European Tour, the Estoril Open de Portugal in Cascais.

At the mercy of the winds blowing in from the Atlantic, Oitavos Dunes is located on a glorious stretch of land coming in from the dunes but studded with fir trees. The course, which plays at times like a links course, is an excellent test whatever the weather.

Gregory Bourdy of France defends the title he won in a play off over David Howell and Alastair Forsyth. Pablo Martin, then studying at Oklahoma State, became the first amateur to win on the Tour when claiming the title the previous year.

PRIZE HAM

There are, of course, excellent prizes to be had in the world of golf. The wealth on offer sometimes beggars belief. There'll be good rewards in Estoril, too, but they're unlikely to match the flavor of a prize handed out in Seville.

The lowest round each day received a hunk of dry-cured Spanish ham, which is similar to prosciutto, weighing in at around six kilos. Soren Kjeldsen's 62 meant he was a happy recipient.

"Niclas Fasth and I have been talking about it the whole week, because we've had it every night, and we thought we really have to get this stuff back to the UK somehow (both Scandinavians are based in England)," he said. "So we've had this agenda the whole week that we really needed to get hold of this ham and have a little party at home, a few beers, a bit of ham and now I've won this thing."