Andy Sullivan roars five shots clear at Portugal Masters
Sunday 18 October 2015 17:00, UK
Andy Sullivan tightened his grip on the Portugal Masters as he extended his lead to a commanding five shots after the third round in Vilamoura.
On a bizarre day for the European Tour, in which a shotgun start was implemented due to the threat of bad weather, Sullivan defied the cool and blustery conditions at the Oceanico Victoria Clube de Golfe to fire a four-under 67 - a score bettered by only Chris Wood and Lucas Bjerregaard.
Sullivan, bidding to become the first three-time winner on Tour this season, had the advantage of starting at the first and he birdied three of the first five holes before dropping only his second shot of the tournament at the tough 510-yard par-four seventh.
The 29-year-old got back on track with birdies at 12 and 14 and, after a poor tee-shot at the 16th cost him another bogey, he got the shot straight back and parred the last to get into the clubhouse on 18 under par.
"I'm just playing really good golf at the moment," said Sullivan. "I hung in there early doors, and then managed to knock a few good putts in. I kept that going throughout the round, and to shoot four under for the day was pretty awesome in that horrible weather out there.
"It was really tough at times, and I feel mentally drained now because I had to concentrate so hard. I felt like I used pretty much all the energy I had out there today, but I've got plenty of time to relax and recharge the batteries, which is good."
Sullivan's lead could have been more substantial had playing-partner Eduardo De La Riva not birdied the final three holes to card a 68 that lifted him into outright second on 13 under par.
Wood climbed 23 places up the leaderboard after firing a flawless 65 which he capped with a superb eagle at the 12th - his final hole of the round.
The tall Englishman shares third on 11 under with Jorge Campillo, who mixed six birdies with two bogeys in a 67, while defending champion Nicolas Colsaerts is a shot further adrift along with his fellow Belgian Thomas Pieters.
Czech Masters and KLM Open champion Pieters began the round just three behind Sullivan, but a double-bogey at the 10th and a bogey at 14 dropped him to eight under, although he did birdie two of the last four holes to salvage a 72.
Tommy Fleetwood tumbled 10 off the pace after he also fired a 72 which included a birdie at 18, a double-bogey at the first and 16 pars.
The star pairing of Padraig Harrington and Martin Kaymer enjoyed large galleries despite them being out of contention and starting at the sixth hole. Harrington managed a third straight 70, but Kaymer slipped over par for the tournament after a torrid 74.
Meanwhile, the European Tour confirmed that further expected bad weather has forced organisers to install another shotgun start for the final round on Sunday.
The third round had all players starting at 0800 from different tees with heavy rain, high winds and possible thunderstorms predicted to arrive in Vilamoura from Saturday lunchtime.
And with a similar forecast set for Sunday, the players will now start at the same time, and it will just the third shotgun start in European Tour history.
"We're expecting some bad weather again," said tournament director Jose María Zamora. "It's going to be raining all day long. It's going to be lighter in the morning and some heavy stuff will come in around midday so we've taken the decision we should go again for another shotgun start at eight o'clock."
Sky's live coverage of the final round will now start at 8:30am on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf.
