Murphy best of the Irish in Portugal
It was a day of contrasting fortunes for the Irish in the Portuguese Open today.
Gary Murphy finished just four shots off the lead, shooting an opening round of 69 at Oitavos Golf Club. Colleague Damien McGrane is one shot further back.
One of the performances of the day came from England’s Neil Cheetham. Three eagles in the space of seven holes fired him to just two shots off the lead.
Cheetham fired a first round 67 as the afternoon starters took advantage of calmer conditions on Portugal’s Atlantic coast.
The 37-year-old, on the books of Sheffield Wednesday as a schoolboy before suffering a serious knee injury, holed from six feet on the seventh, 12ft on the next and eight feet on the 13th.
A bogey on the 18th left him on four under par, two behind leader Markus Brier of Austria, who defied the swirling wind to card a 65.
“I can’t remember ever having three eagles in a round before,” said Cheetham, who was second in the Dunhill Championship in South Africa in January, his career-best finish in his 54th tour event.
“That was incredible and a real bonus because it was very difficult in that wind, it was really swirling around.”
Collated scores in first round of Estoril Open de Portugal Caixa Geral de Depositos, Oitavos Golf Club:
(Gbr unless stated, Par 71)
65 Markus Brier (Aut)
67 Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Stephen Scahill (Nzl)
68 Stephen Dodd, Jonathan Lomas, Paul Broadhurst, Barry Lane
69 Paul Lawrie, Ben Mason, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe), Leif Westerberg (Swe), Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Gary Murphy (IRL), Cesar Monasterio (Arg)
70 Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra), Jean Van de Velde (Fra), Henrik Nystrom (Swe), Peter Baker, Damien McGrane (IRL), Stephen Gallacher, Ian Garbutt, Niclas Fasth (Swe)
71 David Gilford, Simon Hurd, John Bickerton, Kenneth Ferrie, Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Christian Cevaer (Fra), Richard Sterne (Rsa), Steve Webster
72 Simon Khan, Nick Dougherty, Gregory Havret (Fra), David Carter, Marcel Siem (Ger), Fredrik Henge (Swe), Santiago Luna (Spa), Simon Wakefield, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra), Richard Bland, Garry Houston, Peter Lawrie (IRL), Charl Schwartzel (Rsa)
73 Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Scott Drummond, Terry Price (Aus), Fernando Roca (Spa), Mark Roe, Philip Archer, Gary Evans, Gary Emerson, Bradley Dredge, Van Phillips, Adam Mednick (Swe), Philip Golding
74 Matthew King, Michael Jonzon (Swe), Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Emanuele Canonica (Ita), Tom Whitehouse, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe)
75 Miles Tunnicliff, Lars Brovold (Nor), Anthony Wall, Marc Cayeux (Zim), Jamie Donaldson, Gabriel Canizares (Spa), Pelle Edberg (Swe), Philip Walton (IRL), Richard Finch, Gregg Jones (USA), Soren Hansen (Den), Massimo Florioli (Ita)
76 Martin Maritz (Rsa), Andrew Oldcorn, Christopher Hanell (Swe), Lee Slattery, Nuno Campino (Por), Gordon Brand Jnr, David Drysdale
77 Andrew Coltart, Hernan Rey (Arg), Sebastian Fernandez (Arg)
78 Dean Robertson, Jamie Spence, (x) Salvador Castro (Por), Mikko Ilonen (Fin), David Lynn, (x) Ricardo Santos (Por), Oliver Wilson, Hugo Santos (Por)
79 Marten Olander (Swe), Alessandro Tadini (Ita), Robert Coles, Peter Hedblom (Swe), Francesco Molinari (Ita)
80 Mark Sanders, Andrea Maestroni (Ita)
81 Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned), Andrew Marshall, Antonio Dantas Da Silva (Por)
82 Raul Ballesteros (Spa), Jose Dias (Por), Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Gianluca Baruffaldo (Ita)
83 Michael McLean
87 Joao Pedro Carvalhosa (Por)
Retired: Gary Orr.
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