The 24 year old has been in imperious form this year, adding his third runner-up finish of the season in Switzerland to a run of form which includes a win in July’s AEGEAN Airlines Challenge Tour at Hartl Resort and five additional top tens, while he has failed to miss a single cut in 14 starts in 2015.
It is a purple patch which has elevated the University of Central Florida alumnus to within the top 120 in the world, beating his compatriot and friend Ricardo Santos’ highest career ranking of 137.
It is an achievement of which the Lisbon-born player is immensely proud, but – true to form – he is not resting on his laurels and just counts these milestones as stepping stones towards his ultimate goals.
“It feels great (to be the highest-ranked Portuguese in history)”, said Gouveia, who plays out of Guardian Bom Sucesso outside the Portuguese capital. “Of course, like I have said before, it was never my goal just to be highest-ranked player in Portugal, it has always been my goal to be the Number One ranked player in the world.
“By playing well and performing well, I will get to my goals so I just have to make sure I keep doing that.
“I am very proud to be Portuguese, I love this country and I do everything I can to represent it well. It would be a great honour to represent Portugal in the Olympics and I think I am currently inside the qualification places for it.
“Hopefully I can keep playing like I have been playing lately and everything will take care of itself then.”
Edoardo Molinari experienced this kind of success in the Official World Golf Rankings which would inspire any Challenge Tour player, peaking at 84th in the world during his record-breaking season in 2009 when he topped the Rankings to earn a return to The European Tour.
Gouveia, for one, has been surprised by his rise in the Official World Golf Rankings on account of the points available on Europe’s top developmental tour and, although he is from a country which has yet to produce a top 100 player, he was always inspired by his compatriots who achieved success at various levels of the game. Now, he is hoping that he can provide inspiration for others.
“My only goal this season was to finish in the top 15 in the Road to Oman Rankings, I really never thought about the World Rankings,” he said. “But as the season went on I began to think more about it. I want to be top 50 as soon as possible so that I can play in all of the best tournaments in the world.
“I never thought you could get so high in the Rankings through the Challenge Tour but since I have started playing well I realised how quickly it can happen for you here. I understand now how important it is to have Rankings points at these events and how important it is to play on the Challenge Tour.
“I never thought that because I was Portuguese I would not have the same chances to become a top player, I don’t think nationality has any importance in that sense.
“You are just a human being and you have got to work your way towards reaching your own personal goals. Mine is to one day be the World Number One.
“Ricardo (Santos) of course was a good inspiration for me. I grew up playing in the same club as him and it was great to see him win.
“Pedro (Figueiredo) was actually my inspiration growing up because he had the best amateur record of any Portuguese player ever and it’s just so happened that it has turned around this season. But it’s good to see my friends recognise and congratulate me on my success and it would be great if they saw me as an inspiration.”