 | FIRST ROUND LEADERBOARD GB and Ire unless stated
-6 M Brier (Aut)
-4 N Cheetham, T Moore (SA), S Scahill (NZ), M Vibe-Hastrup (Den)
-3 P Broadhurst, S Dodd, B Lane, J Lomas |
Austrian Markus Brier launched a blistering run of birdies to claim a two-shot first-round lead at six under in the Portuguese Open. The 36-year-old, yet to win on the main European Tour, was one over after five before carding six birdies in 11 holes.
Neil Cheetham had three eagles but bogeyed the last to join a group of four players sharing second spot.
Tour stalwart Barry Lane carded successive eagles but double-bogeyed the last to finish three under.
Making a rare appearance this week is former Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance, who now plays on the Senior Tour.
Torrance made a horrendous start, with a double bogey at the opening hole, and after five pars had a mixture of four birdies and four bogeys in 10 holes which all added up a first round 73.
One of the pre-tournament favourites, Nick Dougherty, started from the 10th and was one off the lead when he took a quadruple bogey eight at the 18th.
Dougherty drove out of bounds then hit his second into a bush, and having taken a penalty drop missed the green and took three more from the edge.
He birdied three of his closing four holes to return a one over 72 and said: It's disappointing but I played quite nicely apart from that one hole."
MMIX
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