Italy’s Francesco Molinari held a two-shot lead after the first round of the Portugal Masters on Thursday.
Molinari’s nine-under 63 pushed him clear of a chasing trio on 65 comprising Briton Justin Rose, Charl Schwartzel of South Africa and Scot Alastair Forsyth.
Molinari equaled the lowest round of his Tour career and will now be hoping there is no repeat of what happened after his last 63.
That was at the Irish Open in May and he was disqualified the following day for signing for the wrong score in his second round.
“It was a really good round and my putting was really good,” Molinari said. “The game, it really was quite solid, but that’s for me, it’s quite normal, but my putting today was a bit more than normal. Usually, I’m not really a fast starter. I usually play better in the weekend than in the first couple of days.”
Schwartzel said: “It is quite a long golf course. I think a long hitter does have quite an advantage. I think the fairways are fairly wide, too, so the further you can get it out there, the more of an advantage you have.”
In the battle for “The Race to Dubai,” Lee Westwood improved his hopes with a 66 — despite being stung by a wasp — as current race leader Rory McIlroy finished with a 69.
He had been four-under after five. Rose dropped a shot on the long 12th, but he was already five-under when that came and three more birdies followed, the best of them a six iron to 18 inches on the 463 yard last — a hole that saw several sixes, a seven and also an eight.
Unlike McIlroy, Molinari made the most of his fast start. After three birdies and an eagle in the first five holes, he then grabbed five more birdies in an inward 31.
One of those to take six on the 18th was Welshman Bradley Dredge. Back on the course where he won the World Cup with Stephen Dodd in 2005, he had just eagled the previous hole to reach eight-under, but then finished alongside Westwood by dropping to joint fifth.
Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie made a welcome return to form with a four-under 68.
■LAS VEGAS OPEN
AFP, LAS VEGAS
Tom Pernice, already a success on the Champions Tour, carded a bogey-free nine-under 62 on Thursday to seize a share of the first-round lead at the Las Vegas Open at TPC Summerlin.
Pernice, 50, shared the lead in the US$4.2 million tournament with Troy Matteson and Spencer Levin. Pernice’s nine birdies included back-to-back birdies at his closing holes, eight and nine.
It continued a solid autumn for Pernice, who won his Champions Tour debut in September at the SAS Championship.
“I got off to a really good start, which was nice, and continued to have a really good round,” Pernice said.
“Good quality iron shots first really set it up. The iron shots really were the key and the conditions are obviously perfect here,” he said.
Levin notched seven birdies and an eagle to join the leading trio, while Matteson notched 10 birdies and a bogey.
Levin teed off on 10 and his eagle came at the par-five 16th. He also nabbed birdies at eight and nine for his slice of the lead. Matteson rebounded from a bogey at 17 with a birdie at 18.
The leaders were one stroke in front of Scotland’s Martin Laird and Bob Heintz of the US.
Three-time winner Jim Furyk shook off two early bogeys to join Scott Piercy a further shot back.
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