Tee Times Portugal Golf – Masters – Colsaerts so Close to First 59 – Day 1
Tee Times Portugal Golf – Portugal Masters – Leader Colsaerts So Close to First 59 – Day 1
Nicolas Colsaerts is the current Leader at the end of day 1 and missed out on the first 59 on The European Tour by the merest of margins on the opening day of the Portugal Masters at the Oceânico Victoria Golf Club.
Victoria Golf Course, Oceânico’s jewel, was the most ambitious golf project in Portugal, and was aimed at being one of the best golf complexes in the whole of Europe.
The Victoria Clube de Golfe is the fifth at Vilamoura and the most exclusive one at the resort, making it ideal to became the Algarve’s and Portugal‘s major venue for top international tournaments. Palmer, whose design company has planned some 500 layouts worldwide, compiled the Victoria course project, and Southern Golf, Europe’s largest golf course builder, was awarded the construction contract.
Several man-made lakes provide hazards for the players and also serve as water reservoirs for irrigation.
Tee Times Portugal Golf – Portugal Masters – Oceânico Victoria Golf Course
The Belgian slid an 18-foot foot birdie putt agonisingly just past the left-hand lip of the 18th to fall short of the elusive feat by a single stroke.
No player has broken 60 in the 42-year history of The European Tour, but Colsaerts looked set to change all that after he followed seven birdies with eagles at the 15th and 17th.
That left the 31 year old needing a birdie on the last and he responded by sending a typically booming drive straight down the middle of the fairway.
A short iron left him with a makeable putt and, as he walked towards the green, he was able to share a joke with playing partner Branden Grace, who shot 60 at Kingsbarns in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship two years ago.
Colsaerts’ putt looked on course to drop, but he instead had to be content with a 60 – the 19th time the score has been managed on The European Tour.
Even more significantly, he was able to head to the Victoria clubhouse with a three-shot lead over the rest of the field.
His closest rivals were Alexander Levy and Scott Jamieson, the Scot having set the target mark for the afternoon starters with his round of 63.
Frenchman Levy was first to haul in Jamieson, who operated with a new putter after missing the cut in his previous three tournaments, after 14 holes but he was unable to go on.
Instead it was Colsaerts who took charge as his recent return to form gathered extreme pace on the back nine.
The 2012 Ryder Cup winner has missed the cut in half of the 14 tournament he has played on The European Tour this season, but has found some touch in the past month.
He had made his past three cuts before heading to the Algarve and last time out finished in a tie for fourth at the ISPS Handa Wales Open.
A string of four birdies from the ninth moved him to seven under before he leapfrogged Levy and Jamieson into the lead with the first of his eagles as his power dwarfed the 315-yard par four 15th.
At the penultimate hole he was able to clear the water – which Jamieson had earlier found in the only blemish of his round – to open up his chance of a 59 up the last.
“When I made eagle on 15, I knew then that if I birdied the last three, that would have been 59,” Colsaerts said.
“So I parred 16 and then walking down the fairway on 17, I said to my caddie after I hit a good drive, ‘it’s 59 or nothing’.”
Re-living his final hole, he added: “I hit a good drive. It’s too bad it (the putt) just shaved the edge.
“I thought it was going to be slightly left to right at the end and it kind of went straight and basically just left it hanging. Too bad, I thought it was a pretty good effort, especially with these dark clouds.”
The weather at Victoria Golf Course forced play to be called off for the day shortly after Colsaerts left the 18th, and 16 groups was expected to resume at 8.15am on Friday morning. But the game was suspended due to thunderstorms and (at the time of this writing) the tee times are delayed until further notice.
Source: europeantour.com
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