WHITEFORD IN CONTENTION AS 

MADEIRAOPEN CUT TO 36 HOLES 

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After a heavily weather-delayed opening three days at the Madeira Islands Open – Portugal – BPI, the tournament has been reduced to 36 holes, meaning a thrilling race to the finish line is in store on the final day.
The weather once again played havoc at the mountain-top Clube de Golf do Santo da Serra on the picturesque Portuguese island  in the Atlantic Ocean and when the first round resumed on Saturday morning, only one hour and 13 minutes of play took place before torrential downpours called a halt to proceedings once again.
When play got underway a second time, a trio of Finns in the shape of Anti Ahokas, Roope Kakko and Jaako Makitalo, Scotland’s Peter Whiteford and Alessandro Tadini of Italy joined Frenchmen Jean-Baptiste Gonnet and Adrien Saddier and Englishman Andrew Marshall in second place on three under par as Joachim B Hansen stayed firm at the summit of the leaderboard on four under 68.
There are 43 players within four shots of the Dane’s lead so it is all to play for on the final day. With heavy rain, wind and possible thunderstorms forecast for Sunday, all 82 players that made the cut will start at 8am with a shotgun start.
Player quotes:
Anti Ahokas: “My round was bits and pieces because I only had six holes played on Friday. I think we were a bit lucky with the draw, and I got the birdies that I needed on Friday afternoon at the start of the back nine, the easiest part of the course.
“Then this morning I started and felt really comfortable playing. Then we got another delay and the last part, I started at the second which was mentally the most challenging part because that’s the toughest stretch on the course.
“I putted solidly even though the greens have taken some damage from the rain, but I’m happy to finally have 18 holes done on Saturday afternoon. It’s a different tournament but I feel pretty fresh and ready to go tomorrow.
“In these conditions you just have to take it one shot at a time. I was talking to my caddie about it, with the way this tournament is going to be now, every shot counts even more than normal.
“That was the main idea so if we get on the course tomorrow that will be the same plan tomorrow. We’ll see what happens tomorrow but there could be still a long way to go before we finish another 18 holes, looking at the forecast. It’s my first tournament of the year though so I feel fresh and full of energy.”
Jaako Makitalo: “Of course I’m happy with that. Not a great three-putt on the 17t but I had a tough putt downwind and that can happen and after all of that, I’ll take a 69.
“I just tried to keep my hands warm, have a good rhythm in the swing and try to get the putts near and something will roll in.
“It’s always different when you go back out and it’s difficult. But that’s how it is and it’s the same for everybody. We had the first day of laying on our beds in the hotel and the other groups had the same situation back then.
“At this point I’m happy it’s 36 holes because it’s cold and it’s never fun playing golf in that weather. I’ve also played a lot of golf in Finland, Denmark and Sweden and, I’m not going to say I’m used to it because I don’t like playing in this weather, but I guess it helps that I’m experienced.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow, the forecast is not great but I hope we get the 18 holes in.”
Peter Whiteford: “I’m quite happy, played nicely and left a few out there to be honest, which is nice to say considering I was probably the worst golfer on The European Tour last year!
“It’s been blowing a hurricane back home so it’s kind of what I’ve been practicing in anyways. It’s the first time I’ve been on a golf course and enjoyed it for a maybe a year so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
“I feel very refreshed after taking a little break from the game. The driver is a lot better and that was the thing that was killing me last year, but you work twice as hard when you’re playing badly and I was doing more than I should have been doing, working on the wrong things.
“It feels better, the time away helped to refresh the brain a little bit and if I enjoy it I’ll play alright. I don’t care how I do at the moment as long as I enjoy it.
 “It’s a major for us on the Challenge Tour, the biggest one of the year so with me certainly, being selfish, I definitely want to get the second round in so I can get a pay cheque and some money onto the Rankings.
 “After just one round it’s going to be an absolute rat race with a huge number of people on the same scores. It’ll be a shotgun start so it’s not like you’ll be under the cosh coming down the stretch because you’ll never know where the scores will come from.”
FIRST-ROUND SCORES
par 72
68 J Hansen  (Den)
69 A Ahokas (Fin) , A Tadini (Ita) , P Whiteford (Sco) , R Kakko  (Fin) , J Gonnet  (Fra) , A Marshall (Eng) , A Saddier (Fra) , J Makitalo  (Fin)
70 J Lagergren (Swe) , B Ritthammer (Ger) , G Pinto (Por) , J Robinson (Eng), G Maybin (Nir) , J Fahrbring (Swe) , K Phelan (Irl) , R Paratore (Ita) 
71 T Cruz  (Por) , J Senior (Eng) , N Elvira  (Esp) , B Stone (RSA) , E Saltman  (Sco) , S Einhaus (Ger) , M Armitage (Eng) , J Edfors (Swe) , J Scrivener (Aus) , P Lawrie (Irl) , J McLeary  (Sco) , G Murray  (Sco)
72 N Ravano (Ita) , D Im (USA), B Åkesson (Swe) , M Orrin (Eng) , S Wakefield (Eng) , G Porteous (Eng) , J Billing (Swe) , J Stalter (Fra) , C Paisley  (Eng) , D Woltman (USA) , M Schneider (Ger) , R Santos  (Por) , J Huldahl (Den) , C Ford (Eng) , C Hanson (Eng) 
73 V Phillips (Eng) , P Edberg (Swe) , P Figueiredo  (Por) , S Tiley (Eng) , S Chawrasia (Ind) , D Gaunt (Eng) , R Coles (Eng) , E Dubois (Fra) , J Walters (RSA) , T Murray (Eng) , J Doherty  (Sco) , P Relecom  (Bel) , D Stewart (Sco) , J Guerrier  (Fra) , D Dixon (Eng) , T Pilkadaris (Aus) , S Thornton (Irl) , A Hartø  (Den) , S Gros (Fra)
74 C Shinkwin (Eng) , H Joannes  (Bel) , L Jensen (Den) , R Gouveia (Por) , S Jeppesen  (Swe) , W Harrold (Eng) , C Mivis  (Bel) , W Booth  (Sco) , F Andersson Hed (Swe) , J Lima  (Por) , S Heisele (Ger) , B Dredge (Wal) , T Linard (Fra) , F Calmels  (Fra) , T Sluiter  (Ned) , C Gloet  (Den) , P Archer (Eng) , A Hortal  (Esp) , T Bessa (am) (Por) 
MISSED THE CUT
75 M Delpodio  (Ita) , J Sandelin (Swe) , J Dantorp (Swe) , P Oriol (Esp) , J Carlota (Por) , D Huizing (Ned) , M Lafeber (Ned) , A McArthur  (Sco) , B Virto Astudillo (Esp) , N Quintarelli (Ita) , T Elissalde  (Fra) , L Gagli  (Ita) , N Bertasio (Ita) , A Knappe (Ger) , S Manley (Wal) , S Brown (Eng) , A Velasco (Esp) , R McGee (Irl) , J Barnes (Eng) , S Kim (USA)
76 S Henry  (Sco), S Fallon (Eng) , H Casey (Eng) , J Hahn (USA) , J Rask (Swe) , C Bouniol (Fra) , P Widegren  (Swe) , J Lara (Esp) , N Geyger (Chi)
77 J Heath  (Eng) , A Forsyth (Sco) , D Palm (Swe) , S Walker (Eng) , F Bergamaschi (Ita) , S Soderberg (Swe) , C Del Moral (Esp) , V Riu  (Fra) , S Griffiths (Eng) , P Dwyer (Eng) , G Lockerbie  (Eng) , T Sinnott (Aus) , A Gee  (Eng) , C Pigem (Esp) ,
78 R Finch  (Eng) , R Davies (Wal) , D Law (Sco) , K Ferrie (Eng) , A Bernadet  (Fra) , M Søgaard  (Den) , E Cuartero Blanco  (Esp) , J Ballesteros (Esp) 
79 J Sousa (Por) , D Coupland (Eng) , B Evans  (Eng) , C Laranja (am) (Por)
80 A Rajmont  (Cze) , E Bertheussen (Nor) , J Glennemo (Swe) , S Hodgson (Eng) 
82 R Brackenbury (Eng) , E Goya (Arg) 
** P Maddy (Eng)

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