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Portugal Masters golf: Lucas Bjerregaard claims first individual European Tour title
Lucas Bjerregaard claimed his first individual European Tour title with an impressive display of front-running in the Portugal Masters on Sunday.
Leaderboard
-20 Lucas Bjerregaard
-16 Marc Warren
-15 Eddie Pepperell, Graeme Storm
-14 Ricardo Gouveia, Jose-Filipe Lima
Day four report
Lucas Bjerregaard claimed his first individual European Tour title with an impressive display of front-running in the Portugal Masters on Sunday.
Bjerregaard, who partnered Thorbjorn Olesen as Denmark won the inaugural GolfSixes in May, took a one-shot into the final round and carded a closing 65 to finish 20 under par at Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course.
That left the 26-year-old four shots clear of Scotland's Marc Warren, with England's Graeme Storm and Eddie Pepperell sharing third on 15 under.
South Africa's George Coetzee had been Bjerregaard's nearest challenger for much of the day, but drove into the water on the 18th and ran up a triple-bogey seven which dropped him into a tie for seventh.
"It feels really good," Bjerregaard told Sky Sports when assessing his win. "It's definitely not the year I've been looking for. To be honest it's been really tough so to be in contention again felt really good and to come out on top feels even better.
"I've been out here for four years now and to be honest you start doubting if it's ever going to happen because you know you've got to have a week where it all comes together and luckily this was the week for me.
"Today is definitely up there with one of my best rounds, maybe not for the six under but under the pressure, some of the shots I hit today were some of the best I've hit in a long time."
Bjerregaard made the ideal start with four birdies in the first eight holes to lead by four before a two-shot swing on the ninth, where a poor chip led to a bogey and playing partner Coetzee made birdie from six feet.
However, Bjerregaard bounced back superbly with birdies on the 10th and 11th and although he bogeyed the 14th after finding sand off the tee, further birdies on the 15th and 17th proved decisive.
Warren had closed to within two of the lead with an eagle from 20 feet on the 17th and although he three-putted the last, his best result of the season lifted him from 173rd on the Race to Dubai to 100th.
Only the top 100 at the end of the season will retain full playing privileges for 2018.
Warren said: "I knew in the middle of the back nine Lucas was a few in front so I was just trying to finish as best as I could.
"I hit two absolutely-perfect shots and finished off with a perfect putt on 17 and just couldn't bring myself to hit the putts firm enough on the last, they were straight into the grain.
"It's just nice to be pretty much 100 per cent fit again (following a shoulder injury) and driving the ball as well as I have done. If I keep that up I think we can have a good strong finish to the season."
Day three leaders
-14 Lucas Bjerregaard
-13 George Coetzee
-12 Nino Bertasio, Marc Warren, Eddie Pepperell
Day three report & odds update
Lucas Bjerregaard is Sky Bet's 7/2 favourite to win the Portugal Masters after he moved into a one-shot lead ahead of the final round in Vilamoura.
The big-hitting Dane, who had started the day in a tie for second place, carded a three-under 68 to move to 14-under 199, although he has plenty of challengers within striking distance as he bids for his maiden European Tour victory.
South Africa's George Coetzee, who was tipped up by our David John at 33/1 in his pre-event betting preview, heads the chasing pack at the Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course on 13 under and he can now be backed at 4/1 second favourite.
England's Eddie Pepperell (8/1), Marc Warren (12/1) of Scotland and Italian Nino Bertasio (12/1) are one shot further back.
Bjerregaard, 26, made a steady start to his third round with birdies at the third and fifth and was clear of the field when he added another gain at the 10th.
The world No 387, who is fighting to retain his Tour card at 114th in the Race to Dubai standings, slipped back with bogeys at the 11th and 14th but he shrugged those off with confident birdies at the 15th and 17th to nose back in front.
Coetzee had endured a frustrating time as he mixed three birdies with one bogey over the opening 16 holes, but he put himself firmly in contention for a fourth Tour victory with a superb eagle at the par-five 17th which gave him a four-under 67.
The 31-year-old, who started the tournament with a 64 to share the first-round lead, told Sky Sports: "Today was actually the best day of the week and also the most frustrating.
"I feel like I left a lot of shots out there but I'm quite happy with the way it turned out and hopefully tomorrow we might have some more of the same. I'm excited to see what the challenge brings. It should be fun playing with a bit of pressure and I'm looking forward to it."
Pepperell held the outright lead at one stage on the back nine after successive birdies at the 13th and 14th, but a bogey at the final hole eventually saw him finish two shots off the pace after signing for a three-under 68.
"Today was trickier definitely," said the 26-year-old, who is also chasing his first win. "Conditions were pretty windy, some pins were tucked and the greens were not ideal. So I was happy.
"Three under is not a bad score and I am still in the event and in a position to go and give it a good run tomorrow. I believe that the way I am playing I can go out there and shoot 66, 67 and that might be good enough. So it's all in my hands really. I've just got to go and do it."
Warren was the early pace-setter thanks to three birdies over the opening four holes, but that was as good as it got for the 36-year-old as his run was checked by a double bogey at the seventh after he found water.
He then parred his way in for a one-under 70, although he did well to salvage a par at the 17th after once again finding water with his second shot.
Overnight leader Bertasio stuttered on the front nine with two bogeys but an eagle on the 17th put him back in the mix and saw him finish with a level-par 71.
There is a six-way tie for sixth place on 11 under between English duo Chris Paisley (67) and Graeme Storm (69), Dutchman Joost Luiten (70), Spain's Nacho Elvira (68), Thomas Detry of Belgium (68) and Ashun Wu of China (67).
Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium and Sweden's Sebastian Soderberg shared the round-of-the-day honours as they fired 64s to storm up the leaderboard to 10 under early in the day.
Shane Lowry, the 2012 champion, is also on 10 under after a frustrating 70, while his fellow Irishman Padraig Harrington carded a 71 to sit on eight under and requiring a final-day charge if he is to retain his title.
Danny Willett had been a happy man after shooting a 65 on Friday but he failed to rediscover that form as a four-over 75 saw him slump back to two under.
Day two report & odds update
Nino Bertasio claimed a one-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Portugal Masters after shooting a six-under 65 in the second round in Vilamoura - but our David John's 125/1 pre-tournament selection Jason Scrivener is just two off the pace.
The 29-year-old Italian was one of the later starters at the Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course and moved to the top of the leaderboard on 12-under 130 as he matched Thursday's 65 thanks to six birdies.
Bertasio, who is seeking his maiden European Tour win, overtook Scotland's Marc Warren and Denmark's Lucas Bjerregaard to lead after back-to-back birdies at the sixth and seventh.
The world number 409 had earlier birdied the 12th, 14th, 16th and 17th after teeing off on the 10th.
He is 8/1 with Sky Bet but Bjerregaard heads the market at 13/2 having carded six birdies in a flawless display while Joost Luiten and Shane Lowry can both be backed at 7/1.
Luiten, who had shared the overnight lead with George Coetzee, was still disputing the lead with Bjerregaard on 11 under after four birdies over the opening 10 holes, but he dropped his first shot of the week after finding water on the 14th to slip off the pace.
Scrivener is 20/1 for glory while Coetzee, who was also backed by David John at 33/1, is a shot further back on nine under following a 69 and he can be backed at 12/1.
Warren, who is ranked 483 in the world and down in 173rd place on the Race to Dubai list, began on the 10th and made a steady start with birdies on the 11th and 16th before jumping into contention with an eagle on the par-five 17th.
The 36-year-old then birdied the second, fifth and eighth on the front nine to give himself a chance of claiming his first victory since 2014 and fourth in total.
"Conditions were perfect out there," Warren told Sky Sports. "I drove the ball well and after that I was just trying to be patient really.
"The flags were tucked away and the greens were quite firm so I was pretty pleased with that side of my game - that I was really patient."
Lowry charged through the field with eight birdies in a seven-under 64 at a venue where he won his first professional tournament in 2012.
Padraig Harrington posted his second successive 67 to sit handily-placed on eight under, while Danny Willett returned to form with a six-under 65 - his first sub-70 round on the European Tour since February - to move to six under for the tournament.
Day one report
George Coetzee, tipped at 33/1 by David John, shares the lead after round one of the Portugal Masters and 125/1 pre-tournament selection Jason Scrivener is one shot off the pace.
Holland's Joost Luiten also bounced back from the disappointment of an early exit in defence of his KLM Open title to claim a share of the lead.
Coetzee heads Sky Bet's outright odds at 7/1 and Luiten can be backed at 15/2 to lift the trophy.
Scrivener has been cut to 33/1 as one of David John's tips for this tournament.
Luiten carded seven birdies in a bogey-free 64 in Vilamoura which was matched by South Africa's Coetzee, with England's Callum Shinkwin (16/1) also part of a five-strong group with Scrivener on six under par.
"It was a tough week last week for me, missing the cut by one, but the good thing about golf is there's always next week," five-time European Tour winner Luiten said.
"I knew my game wasn't far off and it's good that today showed I'm getting in the right shape.
"I struggled a little bit with my old driver so I got a new TaylorMade driver with a slightly bigger head and lower ball flight, more forgiving in the wind hopefully, and that really helped me. I hit it lovely today and hopefully can keep it going.
"If you hit the fairways on this course you can be aggressive into the greens, they're quite soft, so that was a good game plan."
In contrast to Luiten, Coetzee finished joint third in Holland and admitted thoughts of the European Tour's first 59 crossed his mind after carding six birdies in his first eight holes at a low-scoring venue.
"I read an article yesterday about the '59 watch' and after eight holes I was thinking if I birdie the next and the next and the next, but I guess I shot myself in the foot a little bit with that," Coetzee joked.
"You get a feeling if you can get off to a hot start you could maybe have a go at it but in the end I wasn't even close.
"Last week I was always slow out of the blocks, the front nine didn't really suit my game, but this week I started like a house on fire and thought I should do this more often."