Andy Sullivan roars three shots clear at Portugal Masters

Andy Sullivan continued to thrive at the Oceanico Victoria Golf Club as he opened up a three-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Portugal Masters.

Sullivan matched his opening 64 in Vilamoura to hit the front on 14 under par, putting himself on course to become the first player to win three times on the European Tour this season.

The 29-year-old started his second round with a birdie at the 10th, and he picked up three in five holes from the 13th to cover the back nine in just 32 shots.

Sullivan added three more birdies on the front half, including a pitch-in for a three at the seventh, and kept a bogey off his card to set a clubhouse target that was never seriously threatened by the later starters, and he ended the day three ahead of fellow two-time winner Thomas Pieters.

"It's always nice to back up a good score with another one," Sullivan said. "Sometimes it's quite tough to go out there and do it again, but I played much in the same vein as I did yesterday. I felt really confident out there, attacked the flags again and putted with heart again. So it was difficult not to shoot a good a score, the way I was hitting it and putting it.

"It's always nice to start with a birdie to keep the momentum rolling. After that, there weren't too many periods where I didn't have a birdie. So it was nice just to keep it flowing.

"I hit a few really good chip shots, but the one on the seventh was just ridiculous. Me and my caddie were just thinking to ourselves that if I left myself with a 10-footer for par back down the hill it would really be nice, so to see it go in was a massive relief."

Pieters, the recent winner of the Czech Masters and the KLM Open, rolled in three birdies in four holes before dropping his only shot of the day at the seventh, but he picked up three further shots on the inward half to post a 66 and get to 11 under.

Bernd Wiesberger pitched in from 63 yards for an eagle at the second as the Austrian fired a 64 to move to 10 under alongside Eduardo de la Riva, who was one over for the round at the turn before nailing five birdies on the back nine to post a 67.

English pair Tommy Fleetwood and Anthony Wall also carded excellent 64s to vault to nine under, while Ryder Cup star Thomas Bjorn (67) and his in-form fellow Dane Soren Kjeldsen (66) are one shot further adrift.

Nicolas Colsaerts shared the overnight lead with Sullivan, but the big-hitting Belgian slid down the leaderboard after a dreadful triple-bogey eight at the 12th, although he did manage three straight birdies before closing with a bogey to drop back to seven under.

Star draws Padraig Harrington and Martin Kaymer, who have five majors between them, have plenty of ground to make up as they trail Sullivan by 12 strokes, while Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke was among the players to miss the halfway cut.

Meanwhile, severe storms with 50mph-plus winds are predicted for late Saturday morning and tournament organisers have taken the rare decision to hold a shotgun start - groups teeing off on all 18 holes from 8am - in an attempt to get day three completed.

"Due to the extremely poor weather forecast for the next two days it has been decided that the best chance of completing the third round is to schedule a shotgun start from 8am on Saturday," said a statement from the European Tour. "All parties have agreed to this in the best interests of the tournament."

Live coverage of the third round in Portugal will now start on Saturday morning at 9am on Sky Sports 5