Portugal Masters

It's tough at the top

Level par gets you tied for 97th place

I've played the Victoria golf course.

Guess my 77 off the yellow tees wouldn't be earning me much money!...

You would be a shot ahead of Nick Dougherty

What.....Nick Dougherty is playing off the yellows now?

Nice to see Monty playing well, after a terrible start.

Doon the Water wrote:What.....Nick Dougherty is playing off the yellows now?

he should probably be off the reds....

Four birdies on the trot from Howler.
Good to see Khan back where he belongs.

Agree about Khan, interesting interview with him last night post round say that he felt the PGA win giving him such a long exemption somewhat hampered his form at back end of last season and most of this. Said that he felt it had taken to much pressure off him as instead of playing like he need to earn the right to be there, he was simply going through the motions and lost sight of his goals. Very honest I thought and endeared him more to the fans.

I was thinking the same wayMav.
Howler, Khan and The Anglo/Scot guy all had a serious dips in form after their exemptions.
Howler would probably get in to most tour events on his lifetime earnings but that decreases sharply after about 5 years.

BlueCoverman wrote:I've played the Victoria golf course.

Guess my 77 off the yellow tees wouldn't be earning me much money!...

I played this course the week after Lee Westwood won the event. The conditions were wet after a hell of a lot of rain, and balls were plugging so no carry. It was the toughest test I'd ever had and playing from the yellows was surprised to see all the tee boxes in front of me. Lady pro's were in front of yellow so we were playing some 50 yards behind them ... Found it tough that day, but was amazed how far back the championship tees were, wow. Then seeing the course being ripped apart yesterday showed how far I'm off the pace

Can we use Mav's thread now please

Did I hear right 1 player 8 under after 9 holes??????

Couldn't agree more Doc...

I played it in dry sunny conditions so there was a good bit of run on the ball. I particularly remember the Par 5 17th...I hit my Sunday best drive and murdered a 3 wood to just clear the water and finish on the fringe at the front of the green. Watching on the TV a bit later in the year the Pro's were hitting the middle of the green with a drive and a shortish iron...and that was from the Championship tee which was a good 75 yards further back from where I had played it from!

Wow! I haven't seen so many birdies in a long time! But also many bogeys. Interesting.

BlueCoverman wrote:Couldn't agree more Doc...

I played it in dry sunny conditions so there was a good bit of run on the ball. I particularly remember the Par 5 17th...I hit my Sunday best drive and murdered a 3 wood to just clear the water and finish on the fringe at the front of the green. Watching on the TV a bit later in the year the Pro's were hitting the middle of the green with a drive and a shortish iron...and that was from the Championship tee which was a good 75 yards further back from where I had played it from!

The 17th will linger long in my memory. Like you a cracking drive, followed by a great 3-wood but still had a 9-iron over the water with pin at the back, so thought go for it. Hit a cracking iron which easily cleared the drink only to see it bite and spin all the way back into the hazard. Gutted and summed up my round, managed to par the 18th though, but still a shocking card and glad to hit the bar for a few cold ones after that.