LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- It 's a question that I have asked myself for a long time . Why ca n't Portugal produce a top golfer ? Antonio Sobrinho was the only Portuguese golfer to make the cut at the recent Portugal Masters . The weather is great , courses are popping up all over the country , and still , they do n't have a single player in the top 400 of the world rankings . On the surface , it might not make sense , but if you dig a little a deeper , like I had a chance to do during a recent Living Golf report in the Algarve , there are plenty of reasons why golf is n't taking off among the locals . The most shocking statistic of all is that in the whole country there is not a single public golf course . This means if you want to play , you have to become a member of a club or pay something in the region of 100 Euros ( $ 137 ) for a round of golf . Considering the minimum salary in Portugal is under 400 Euros a month , it becomes clear the vast majority of Portuguese people simply ca n't afford it . This means most of the people out on golf courses in Portugal are foreign , and while this is great for tourism , it 's doing nothing to help the grass roots of the game in the country . Another issue is that the sport is seen as elitist and is not part of the nation 's sporting culture . There is great passion among Portugal 's youngsters , as there is in many European countries , for football . And though people play other sports , and you can get lessons in sports like golf , there is an almost complete lack of interest -- no-one really talks about golf . What the country really needs is a golfing superstar to kick-start a revolution and inspire the new generation -- a Cristiano Ronaldo of golf . The Portuguese Golf Federation says the tide is turning and they claim they are doing their best to invest in young amateur players . They also have allies with some of the private investors who have built golf courses in Portugal sponsoring some of the nation 's top prospects . Oceanico is an example of this , with the company that has built seven courses in the Algarve backing three of Portugal 's five professionals . The more organizations that invest in up-and-coming golfers like this , the more chance Portugal will have in producing the next Tiger Woods . There could yet be hope for golf in the country , but it will take more investment , more time and a figure to unite an otherwise football obsessed country around a relatively neglected sport . Watch Pedro examine Portugal 's golf scene on this month 's Living Golf , which airs Thursday , November 6 , 1400 , 1830 ; Saturday , November 8 , 0800 , 1830 Sunday ; November 9 , 0400 , 0830 , 1430 ( all times GMT ) .
Portugal has an ever-growing number of great golf courses . There are no Portuguese players in the world 's top 400 . Golf is too expensive and not high profile enough there . If there were a Cristiano Ronaldo of golf , children might take it up .