Grant Forrest leading Scot with a 70 at Morgado on the Algarve

Englishman Wallace sets Morgado target

with a 63 before play suspended


EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
Matt Wallace produced a sparkling, 10-under-par 63 to set a daunting clubhouse target before play was suspended on day one of the dual ranking Open de Portugal at Morgado Golf Resort, to the north of Portimao on the Algarve.
The Englishman reeled off ten birdies - including five in a row from the 12th - to get to ten under par and open up a one-shot lead over nearest challenger Sebastian Heisele.
Heisele carded an eagle, nine birdies and two bogeys in his opening 64.
American Julian Suri and Englishmen Paul Maddy and Jamie Rutherford were a further two shots back on six under after posting matching rounds of 67.
Wallace, who won six Alps Tour events last season to earn his Challenge Tour card, made a strong start on Thursday morning, notching four birdies on the front nine to reach the turn in 32.
The 27 year old began his back nine in style, making another gain at the long tenth before firing birdies at the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th to propel himself to the top of the leaderboard.
Wallace then safely parred his final two holes to head into the clubhouse on ten under.
After his flawless first round, Wallace said: "It was a fantastic round really.
"It wasn’t looking great at the start when the rain came in ten minutes before my tee time. Then it stopped just as we got on to the tee, so that was kind of a good omen.
"It was the old cliché. I just took one shot at a time and we had a really good day out there.
"Everything was working well to be honest. Everything clicked. I made two good par saves on the front nine to keep the momentum going.
"After that every hole was at least a birdie chance, so it was a really good day.


"It’s been a continuation of a good start to the season. I’ve enjoyed it, I love coming out here and playing and hopefully we can keep this going for the next three days.
"The course is looking good, but it’s going to be wet and windy this afternoon and probably the same tomorrow. I just need to prepare well and look forward to tomorrow now."
Fellow early starter Heisele made three straight birdies from the third before dropping his first shot of the day at the sixth.
But he bounced back with an eagle at the seventh and a birdie at the ninth to cover his front nine in 31 strokes.
The German started his back nine with a birdie at the tenth but carded a bogey at par-three 11th to fall back to five under.
He then produced four birdies in his next five holes to finish his first round a single shot behind Wallace.


"Nine under is a great start, I’m happy with that," said Heisele. "I put together a few birdies in a row on the front and the back, which helped.
"It was good to see Matt Wallace going out in front of me and giving me something to chase down. It’s just a bit of friendly rivalry. Seeing him chase up the board there a few groups in front of me was great, it was fun trying to keep up.
"It was a steady round, I had a couple of good putts, but then there were a couple of short putts that didn’t go my way so it could have been better, but I’m happy with that."

José-Filipe Lima, who was three under after six holes, was the leading Portuguese player when play was suspended at 3.10pm local time due to thunder and lightning.

Home favourite Ricardo Gouveia completed the morning session alongside Major winner Paul Lawrie of Scotland, with both recording rounds of one under par 72.
The leading Scot honour at the end of the first day was claimed by Grant Forrest who had a 70 and is T18 overnight.
Ross Kellett had a 73 for T65 while David Law, Duncan Stewart and Craig Lee are all T91 with 74s.

Round one will resume at 8.30 am on Friday.

Player Quotes

Matt Wallace: "It was a fantastic round really. It wasn’t looking great at the start when the rain came in ten minutes before my tee time. Then it stopped just as we got on to the tee, so that was kind of a good omen.

"It was the old cliché. I just took one shot at a time and we had a really good day out there. Everything was working well to be honest. Everything clicked. I made two good par saves on the front nine to keep the momentum going.

"After that every hole was at least a birdie chance, so it was a really good day. It’s been a continuation of a good start to the season. I’ve enjoyed it, I love coming out here and playing and hopefully we can keep this going for the next three days."

Sebastian Heisele: "Nine under is a great start, I’m happy with that. I put together a few birdies in a row on the front and the back, which helped.

"It was good to see Matt Wallace going out in front of me and giving me something to chase down. It’s just a bit of friendly rivalry. Seeing him chase up the board there a few groups in front of me was great, it was fun trying to keep up.

"It was a steady round, I had a couple of good putts, but then there were a couple of short putts that didn’t go my way so it could have been better, but I’m happy with that."

 

Paul Lawrie: “I would say it was solid but unspectacular

 

today. I played nicely, but I just didn’t hole many putts on the

 

greens and I made a couple of mistakes, which didn’t help.

 

But I’ve not played a lot of golf recently, so all in all it wasn’t

 

too bad.

 

“It was quite windy out there. I thought the conditions were

 

quite difficult, but some of the scoring seems good – ten

 

under par from Matt Wallace this morning is incredible.”

 

Play was suspended at 15:10 local time due to thunder and lightning

FIRST-ROUND LEADERBOARD
par 73
63 M Wallace (Eng)
64 S Heisele (Ger)
67 J Suri (USA), P Maddy (Eng), J Rutherford (Eng)

SCOTS' SCORES
70 G Forrest (T18)
72 P Lawrie (T44)
73 R Kellett (T65)
74 D Law, D Stewart, C Lee (T91)

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