Caldwell solo fourth after opening 65 in Portugal
Liam Johnston. Picture: Getty Images
Clandeboye’s Jonny Caldwell combined brilliant driving with some clinical putting to open with a six-under 65 in the Portugal Masters.
The former Walker Cup star (36) made seven birdies, including five in his last seven holes to sit alone in fourth place, just four shots behind Scotland’s Liam Johnston at Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course.
“I drove the ball lovely and hit a lot of greens and just managed to hole a few putts coming in,” Caldwell said.
Johnston, who lost his card last year, was oblivious to the fact that he could shoot 59 with an eagle-birdie finish at the venue where Oliver Fisher shot the European Tour’s first and only 59 to date two years ago.
“I thought it was a par 72,” he said after a closing birdie-par to lead by a shot from France’s Julien Guerrier and by three strokes from England's Laurie Canter.
“I didn't think I would get in many of these events. It's uncharted territory, we don't know what will get you into any of these events. I'm just happy to be here competing because I didn't think I would be playing.”
World No 16 Tommy Fleetwood shot 68 as Co Down’s Cormac Sharvin made and eagle and two birdies in a one-under 70 to share 48th place and Dubliner Gavin Moynihan mixed fives birdies with five bogeys in a 71 to lie joint 66th.
The 61 was the lowest round of Johnson’s European Tour and it might have been lower.
At nine under par through 16 holes the Scot was in contention to match Fisher’s 59 but after narrowly clearing the water with his approach into the par-five 17th, he could not hole his eagle putt from range.
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 told my coach back home I was swinging it as good as I ever have, and my game feels like it's trending in the right direction. More importantly, I’m in a really good place mentally. I didn't see a round like this coming, but I felt like I was playing well.
“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.”
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.
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.
Meanwhile, India’s Shubhankar Sharma recorded the first albatross on the 2020 Race to Dubai, holing out from 241 yards with his second shot on the 588-yard par 17th hole.
Julien Guerrier: “I really enjoyed how I played the course today. The conditions were great, the weather was perfect. I played great, I hit a lot of fairways and I think that is the key here.
“As soon as I hit my ball into the rough it was a different hole. You fight for the par and when you put your ball on the fairway it's like a birdie chance. You try to make it the best you can.”
Laurie Canter: “I don’t think I’ve done that for a while to be fair, bogey-free, I’ve had my fair share of bogeys so it’s nice to keep them off the card for a day.
“There’s a couple of new things I’ve been working, nothing radical really, just some good, smart advice from some good coaches and my other half, Anna, is now my manager so I’ve got to put it down to her really. “
Tommy Fleetwood: “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. I drove it great, ignore the one on the last, I drove it really well and gave myself a lot of chances. It’s nice to be playing this course again.
“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.”
Portugal Masters, Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, Vilamoura, Portugal (Par 71)
61 L Johnston (Sco)
62 J Guerrier (Fra)
64 L Canter (Eng)
65 Jonathan Caldwell (Nir)
66 T Olesen (Den), G Coetzee (RSA), M Jordan (Eng), S Soderberg (Swe)
67 B Stone (RSA), L Bjerregaard (Den), R Fox (Nzl), R Bland (Eng), N Bertasio (Ita), F Laporta (Ita), M Kawamura (Jpn), G Migliozzi (Ita), P Waring (Eng), D Whitnell (Eng), A Saddier (Fra), S Kim (USA),
68 A Rozner (Fra), S Brown (Eng), J Campillo (Esp), M Armitage (Eng), M Simonsen (Den), T Fleetwood (Eng), B Easton (RSA), T Bessa (Por)
69 R Enoch (Wal), T Gandy (Imn), R Santos (Por), J Senior (Eng), D Law (Sco), A Meronk (Pol), M Schneider (Ger), J Donaldson (Wal), J Lagergren (Swe), J Suri (USA), J Lima (Por), B Evans (Eng), J Scrivener (Aus), P Larrazábal (Esp), R Gouveia (Por), A Wu (Chn), M Southgate (Eng), M Pavon (Fra), J Veerman (USA),
70 M Schmitt (Ger), W Besseling (Ned), W Nienaber (RSA), R Roussel (Fra), T Santos Silva (Por), E Cuartero Blanco (Esp), G Porteous (Eng), N Lemke (Swe), R Jacquelin (Fra), S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp), R Rock (Eng), T Pulkkanen (Fin), A Cañizares (Esp), D Drysdale (Sco), Cormac Sharvin (Nir), S Vincent (Zim), K Broberg (Swe), A Bj?rk (Swe)
71 T Bjørn (Den), N Elvira (Esp), L Van Meijel (Ned), Gavin Moynihan (Irl), A Romero (Arg), J Fahrbring (Swe), V Lopes (Por), J Luiten (Ned), O Fisher (Eng), D Howell (Eng), G Fdez-castaño (Esp), G Havret (Fra)
72 J Mcleod (Aus), Z Murray (Aus), R Mcevoy (Eng), R Karlberg (Swe), M Kieffer (Ger), G Forrest (Sco), P Figueiredo (Por), J Catlin (USA), P Lencart (Am) (Por), H Porteous (RSA), C Pigem (Esp), B Stow (Eng), A Karlsson (Swe), M Kinhult (Swe), D Coupland (Eng)
73 A Quiros (Esp), J Smith (Eng), T Tree (Eng), J Walters (RSA), S Heisele (Ger), S Sharma (Ind), C Hill (Sco), J Olazábal (Esp), D Huizing (Ned), J Sjöholm (Swe), R Sciot-Siegrist (Fra), N Von Dellingshausen (Ger), E Ferguson (Sco), K Samooja (Fin)
74 B Poke (Den), M Antcliff (Aus), W Enefer (Eng), M Baldwin (Eng), J Thomson (Eng), J Gonnet (Fra), J Stalter (Fra), H Li (Chn), B Hebert (Fra), E De La Riva (Esp), L Gagli (Ita), A Pavan (Ita), P Hanson (Swe), J Kruger (RSA)
75 W Ormsby (Aus), C Paisley (Eng)
76 S Gallacher (Sco), O Wilson (Eng)
77 R Fisher (Eng), D Van Driel (Ned), M Fenasse (Fra), D Perrier (Fra), J Kruyswijk (RSA)
78 A Levy (Fra), S Webster (Eng)
82 M Gaspar (Por)
