The Algarve golfer Ricardo Santos finished 34th in this Saturday's Portugal Masters in golf, which is taking place at Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, in Vilamoura, just 3 strokes from the top 20 of the competition.
Vítor Lopes and Tomás Melo Gouveia, who yesterday passed the cut and are also disputing the decisive rounds of the tournament, dropped from 37th place to 57th place.
Leading the tournament are Belgium's Thomas Pieters and Frenchman Mathiew Pavan, with 197 strokes (16 under par).
Already Ricardo Santos, is with 210 strokes, 3 under par, keeping the record of the day before, «after delivering a card of 71 strokes, with 2 bogeys and 2 birdies», according to the event's organizers.
Yesterday, «the wind blew stronger and irregularly, sometimes with cross winds. The flags often continued to be positioned very close to the boundaries of the greens. The temperature has dropped, which makes the ball fly a little less. Some greens gave the feeling of being slightly slower than in the previous days and there was also the decision of the tournament director, the Spaniard José Maria Zamora, to withdraw the game in "prefered lies", ie, it was no longer possible to place the ball on the fairway».
“It makes a difference, although not around. But, for example, on hole 11 I was in a divorce with sand and it's like a s do bunker. With “prefered lies” it would be different», said the Algarve golfer, the best Portuguese in the competition.
Santos, who was 31st in the first round and 30th in the second, is tied with Stephen Gallacher, an even more veteran of Scots, 47, who won the 2014 Ryder Cup.
But if the 39-year-old Algarvian is for the fifth time in his career playing in the last two rounds of the Portugal Masters, for his compatriots Vítor Londot Lopes (25 years old) and Tomás Melo Gouveia (27 years old), this is a debut , as it was the first time they passed the cut in the most important Portuguese tournament.
"Interestingly, they continue with twin results in the three days of competition and will act together tomorrow for the fourth day in a row", emphasizes the organization.
As for the top of the table, it saw changes yesterday. Italian Nino Bertasio, who led the first two rounds, dropped to 7th position and gave the lead to 29-year-old Thomas Pieters and Mathieu Pavon.
Pieters, who is looking for his fifth European Tour title, and Pavon, who is chasing his first trophy in the European top division, have a four-stroke advantage over the Danish Lucas Bjerregaard, the winner of the Portugal Masters 4.
“There are only 6 strokes separating the top six, so nothing is decided yet, but Pieters, a member of the European Ryder Cup team in 2016, has the experience of having already won two tournaments where he started for the last round in the lead. , while Pavon sees himself for the first time commanding a 54-hole competition of this level», concluded the organization.
"The first nine holes were really brutal, due to the wind", stressed Thomas Pieters, who is playing in the Portugal Masters for the fifth time, having been 6th (-12) in 2015.
"Today the wind was stronger than on other days," agreed Ricardo Santos. "The conditions were much more difficult than in the first two days," added Tomás Melo Gouveia. «The field was not easy at all», guaranteed Vítor Londot Lopes.
“I focused a lot on the speed of the greens. It was the main thing, because I feel I've been reading the lines well this week”, said Mathieu Pavon, who, in this Portugal Masters, leads the statistic of hits won in the putt.
By contrast, Portuguese players suffered on the greens. «In the first 11 holes I couldn't make any putt and I had very good opportunities», lamented Ricardo Santos.
“My game was not at the same level, especially on the greens. Many putts within three meters did not enter and at this level that is unforgivable», Tomás Melo Gouveia reproached himself. “With these big greens, it's hard to control your speed (“pace”) when you're away from the flag. I made 3 putts twice, which gave me 2 double-bogeys», explained Vítor Londot Lopes.
The Portugal Masters ends today with the fourth and final round, playing until early afternoon.
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