Andy Sullivan leads with a pair of 64s

BAD WEATHER ABOUT TOO IN A ROW

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS Andy Sullivan made hay whilst the sun shone on the second day of the Portugal Masters, as the Englishman opened up a commanding lead courtesy of a second successive round of 64. With adverse weather over the weekend threatening to curtail the tournament for the second year in succession, the jovial Englishman is in pole position to claim his third European Tour title of the season after moving to 14 under par. Sullivan’s closest challenger at Oceânico Victoria Golf Course is Belgian Thomas Pieters, who climbed to 11 under par courtesy of a round of 66. Austrian Bernd Wiesberger, currently seventh in The Race to Dubai, shares third place on ten under par alongside Eduardo De La Riva after the duo carded respective rounds of 64 and 67. Due to the adverse weather forecast for Saturday afternoon, the tournament organisers have agreed to begin the third round at 8am with a ‘shotgun start’. Heavy rain, high winds and even possible thunderstorms are predicted to arrive in Vilamoura from Saturday lunchtime, giving organisers no option other than to bring forward the tee times and start all players at the same time. The only other time there has been a shotgun start during an official European Tour event was the final round of the 1994 Czech Open.  Key quotes Andy Sullivan: “It’s always nice to back up a good score with another one. Sometimes it’s quite tough to go out there and do it again, but I played much in the same vein as I did yesterday. I felt really confident out there, attacked the flags again and putted with heart again. So it was difficult not to shoot a good a score, the way I was hitting it and putting it. “It’s always nice to start with a birdie to keep the momentum rolling. After that, there weren’t too many periods where I didn’t have a birdie. So it was nice just to keep it flowing. “I hit a few really good chip shots today, but the one on the seventh was just ridiculous. Me and my caddie were just thinking to ourselves that if I left myself with a ten footer for par back down the hill it would really be nice, so to see it go in was a massive relief. Thomas Pieters: “I thought I played better yesterday, but still managed to hit it close a few times today and I played the par fives well. I was pretty disappointed with the finish, missing two short putts, but at least I’ve given myself a chance going into tomorrow. “Even though the forecast for tomorrow doesn’t look great, I’ve still got to try to make birdies. I don’t know how bad it’s going to be, but hopefully we can get at least three rounds in.” José María Zamora, Tournament Director: “On Saturday morning we are expecting some very heavy rain from one o’clock onwards, so the only option to try to get the third round completed will be to have a shotgun start. “At this moment in time, the forecast for Sunday is not looking great either. But our first priority is to try to get the third round completed. Then if we get lucky, there’s a chance we can play the fourth round on Sunday. “It’s a real shame, because the weather so far this week has been fantastic. It’s so hot and sunny out there today, we’ve got thousands of people following the golf. We were also very unfortunate last year with the cancellation of the last two rounds because of the weather, but hopefully we can get at least three rounds done this year. “We’re going to change the preparation of the golf course for the third round. As well as the rain we’re also expecting 30-40 miles per hour winds, so we’ll not be cutting the greens. We will also move some of the tees forward to make the course more playable, because we’re expecting a really tough day.” Round Two Scores 128 A Sullivan (Eng) 64 64,  131 T Pieters  (Bel) 65 66,  132 B Wiesberger  (Aut) 68 64, E De La Riva  (Esp) 65 67,  133 A Wall (Eng) 69 64, T Fleetwood  (Eng) 69 64,  134 T Fisher Jnr (RSA) 66 68, A Otaegui  (Esp) 67 67, S Kjeldsen (Den) 68 66, T Bjørn (Den) 67 67, C Paisley  (Eng) 67 67,  135 H Otto (RSA) 70 65, A Quiros  (Esp) 67 68, T Aiken (RSA) 65 70, S Jamieson  (Sco) 67 68, P Maddy (Eng) 66 69, A Hansen (Den) 68 67, N Colsaerts  (Bel) 64 71, J Singh (Ind) 69 66, J Campillo (Esp) 66 69, B Ritthammer (Ger) 69 66,  136 D Drysdale (Sco) 65 71, R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 68 68, K Broberg (Swe) 66 70, G Mulroy (RSA) 69 67,  137 C Wood  (Eng) 68 69, R Rock (Eng) 70 67, D Brooks (Eng) 68 69, E Espana (Fra) 70 67,  138 C Lee (Sco) 67 71, C Doak (Sco) 69 69, J Van Zyl (RSA) 71 67, G Storm  (Eng) 68 70, M Korhonen (Fin) 69 69, S Gallacher (Sco) 67 71, R Wattel  (Fra) 67 71, R Green (Aus) 68 70, D Fichardt (RSA) 68 70, J Quesne  (Fra) 70 68, B Stow (Eng) 69 69, O Fisher  (Eng) 69 69,  139 J Carlsson (Swe) 66 73, M Warren (Sco) 71 68, A Cañizares  (Esp) 70 69, A Johnston (Eng) 70 69, J Scrivener (Aus) 70 69, J Walters (RSA) 71 68, D McGrane (Irl) 67 72, B Hebert  (Fra) 75 64, G Bourdy (Fra) 70 69, R Gouveia (Por) 71 68, M Lundberg (Swe) 70 69, T Silva (am) (Por) 71 68,  140 R Gonzalez (Arg) 70 70, M Kaymer (Ger) 70 70, L Jensen (Den) 73 67, P Dunne (Irl) 68 72, S Hutsby  (Eng) 72 68, P Harrington (Irl) 70 70,  141 T Olesen (Den) 71 70, R Paratore (Ita) 70 71, K Phelan (Irl) 70 71, L Bjerregaard  (Den) 72 69, R Bland (Eng) 71 70, P Lawrie (Sco) 71 70, S Brown (Eng) 73 68, M Crespi  (Ita) 68 73, M Kieffer (Ger) 71 70, D Gaunt (Aus) 72 69, B Evans  (Eng) 73 68, G Havret  (Fra) 71 70, J Kruger (RSA) 72 69, MISSED THE CUT 142 A Hortal  (Esp) 71 71, M Madsen  (Den) 70 72, M Siem  (Ger) 70 72, L Slattery (Eng) 71 71, N Fasth (Swe) 72 70, T Cruz  (Por) 71 71, R Jacquelin (Fra) 72 70, M Ford (Eng) 71 71, G Stal  (Fra) 69 73, F Aguilar (Chi) 71 71, F Fritsch  (Ger) 70 72, R Santos  (Por) 69 73, P Larrazábal (Esp) 72 70, A Tadini (Ita) 73 69,  143 A Velasco (Esp) 70 73, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 70 73, T Murray (Eng) 70 73, D Woltman (USA) 73 70, T Lewis (Eng) 72 71, R Fisher (Eng) 67 76, C Del Moral (Esp) 70 73, M Manassero (Ita) 75 68, S Hansen (Den) 73 70, V Lopes (am) (Por) 74 69,  144 P Oriol (Esp) 72 72, M Carlsson  (Swe) 70 74, R McEvoy  (Eng) 74 70, J Lagergren (Swe) 78 66,  145 O Farr (Wal) 73 72, C Bouniol (Fra) 73 72, P Edberg (Swe) 72 73, M Lorenzo-Vera  (Fra) 70 75, J Barnes (Eng) 73 72, P Lawrie (Irl) 73 72, J Carlota (Por) 71 74,  146 M Foster (Eng) 76 70, M Hoey  (Nir) 74 72, J Roos (RSA) 72 74, T Hatton (Eng) 76 70, J Lima  (Por) 78 68, M Lampert (Ger) 69 77, A Levy (Fra) 72 74,  D Clarke (Nir) 71 75, M Tullo (Chi) 71 75,  147 S Benson (Eng) 73 74, J Edfors (Swe) 75 72,  148 J Hahn (USA) 77 71, M Nixon (Eng) 75 73,  149 C Lloyd (Eng) 77 72,  151 A Pavan (Ita) 71 80,  152 J Lando Casanova  (Fra) 76 76,  153 N Elvira  (Esp) 75 78,  156 P Figueiredo  (Por) 77 79#=  ** R Finch  (Eng) 75 WD, - Ends -