Joost Luiten and George Coetzee grab a share of the lead after the opening round of the Portugal Masters, 2016 champion Padraig Harrington lurks three back.
Coetzee and Dutchman Joost Luiten both carded fine rounds of 64 in fantastic scoring conditions. They took a one-shot lead over England’s Callum Shinkwin who pleased fans with a 65.
“That’s what you want every day,” said Luiten. “I knew my game wasn’t far off and the good thing about golf is there’s always next week and this week it feels nice.”
Frenchman Gregory Havert carded a 6-under 65 and spoke highly the course after his opening round:
“Early birdies are always a nice thing especially on the first that is not the easiest hole on the course. There were hardly any mistakes. I’m pretty pleased with what happened today. If you play well you shoot low because the setting is perfect. You have opportunities on the par fives and a few short par fours and if you manage well to play the hard holes you can do really well and that’s what happened today.”
Take a look at the days play through pictures and the best stats from europeantour.com.
