Liam Johnston (Getty Images) and Shubhankar Sharma (inset – file picture).
Vilamoura, Spain, Sept 11: Shubhankar Sharma experienced ecstasy and agony on successive holes as he closed with 2-over 73 on the opening day of the 2020 Portugal Masters.
Sharma, who is going through a lean patch, opened the round late in the afternoon with a bogey on Par-4 first. He got his first birdie on the fourth, but a double bogey on the seventh saw him turn in 2-over 37. On the back nine a bogey on 11th pushed him further down to 3-over. As the round came closer to the end, Sharma’s 2-Iron from 241 yards on the 588 yard par 17th hole found its way into the cup for a rare albatross. It was the first albatross on the 2020 Race to Dubai. The albatross wiped out his deficit and brought him to par in one swoop. But he finished with his second double bogey of the day on 18th for a 73.
Last year at the Memorial on PGA Tour, Sharma had a similar albatross in the second round.
Liam Johnston produced the lowest round of his European Tour career at Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, firing a sparkling round of 61 to lead by one shot at the end of the opening day.
At nine under par through 16 holes the Scot was in contention to match the historic 59 Oliver Fisher shot here two years ago. He narrowly cleared the water with his approach into the par five 17th but could not hole his eagle putt. A par on the last took the two-time European Challenge Tour winner to ten under par, one shot ahead of Frenchman Julien Guerrier.
England’s Laurie Canter is at seven under par after a round of 64, as all of the leading three players went bogey-free in Vilamoura.
Northern Ireland’s Jonathan Caldwell is at six under par, one shot ahead of South African George Coetzee, England’s Matthew Jordan, Dane Thorbjørn Olesen and Sebastian Soderberg of Sweden.
A group of 12 players are then at four under par, with World Number 16 Tommy Fleetwood and the highest-placed Portuguese player Tomás Bessa amongst a further eight players at three under par.
Johnston said, “With the rough out there it’s nice to keep the bogeys off the card. I saved well when I needed to and holed a lot of putts out there. Delighted with the ten birdies.
“I had no idea (that 59 was a possibility). I was just talking to Kristoffer Broberg there and just noticed it was a 71, I thought it was a par 72. Obviously, I was trying to hole that putt on 17 to make eagle and just left it a little bit short. Nice par on the last.”
Fleetwood commented, “Overall I was happy. I had a dodgy spell through three, four, five, six and then started hitting it well and had chances. The course is a different test to what it’s always been.
“Today I felt like I was working hard, like every shot, but the more I felt myself strike the golf ball, look up and it doing what I would like it to do, the more confidence you build and that’s exactly why I’m playing this week. You’ve got to play golf really, in tournament conditions, and it’s always nice to see some work pay off in a tournament.”
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