This week at the Portugal Masters: Willett plays weekend, Harrington has a new move for us
What happened at the Portugal Masters?
Lucas Bjerregaard came into the week in 114th spot on the Race to Dubai and facing a jittery end of season. The Dane now has his first win after putting together an eight-birdie 65 to finish four clear of Marc Warren.
He was just one clear of George Coetzee and Graeme Storm at the turn but then continued to make strides with back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11. Over the course of the week the 26-year-old had 24 birdies and an eagle.
Storm and fellow Englishman Eddie Pepperell tied for third with local favourites Ricardo Gouveia and José-Filipe Lima a shot further back. Coetzee hadn’t dropped a shot all day but then trebled the 72nd hole to drop down into a tie for 7th.
“It’s been a terrible year so far for me, so I knew I needed a couple of good weeks to keep my card. I feel like I went out there and took it a bit more, where maybe before, I think I hoped that someone would kind of hand it to me or kind of fall in front of me,” he said.
Talking points
Marc Warren came into the week in 173rd spot on the money list after a dismal run of form. Since Wentworth his finishes have been MC-MC-WD-MC-MC-MC-MC-MC-33-14-MC-MC and 59. His second place here, helped by an eagle at 17, moves him up to 100th place and into a much healthier position.
Eddie Pepperell is your Tour form horse after three top fives on the trot following his 5th (Czech), 3rd (Netherlands) and here. His season was looking very different coming into September but he is now in 54th spot and in with a good shout of making it to Dubai.
Six Walker Cup players from Los Angeles were in the field in Portugal and it was all looking promising after the opening round for some much-needed earnings. But only Connor Syme made it through to the weekend and four impressive rounds in the 60s gave him a tie for 12th. David Boote (67-73), Scott Gregory (68-72), Jack Singh Brar (67-73), Alfie Plant (74-74) and Jack Davidson (72-76) all had the weekend to work on their games.
Shot of the week
"That is HUGE"
Chasing his card, @MarcWarrenGolf eagles 17 to go second alone. pic.twitter.com/DcSiQf7NzP
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) September 24, 2017
Best dressed
It should be fairly straightforward to put a pair of shorts together with a shirt and look OK but, as we’ve seen from every golf holiday we’ve been on and the Tour’s relaxation of the dress code on non-tournament days, it’s not.
Simple elegance here from the proverbial Belgian Bomber; no white belt, just the right showing of ankle sock and nothing silly with the shorts. Textbook.
Worst dressed
Lee Slattery is possibly the most stylish player on the European Tour so this is just a personal thing; I don’t like the colour purple. Of all the colours in the world to turn into a nice pair of strides then purple isn’t one of them, in my humble opinion.
Best stat
“I’m working hard,” he said. “There’s still a lot of bad shots in there. The good is kind of creeping in, we’re still trying to eliminate a few of the bad rights but the processes are better and what we’re working on is feeling better. The tricky thing in golf is that there as such fine margins in what you think is a good move or a bad move, a good strike or a bad strike.”
Here’s Danny working with his coach Sean Foley…
Best tweet
In case you were looking for a new swing thought for next weekend…
1/2The left foot step forward in backswing gets my spine tilted away from the ball at the top of my backswing,not arched on top of ball https://t.co/psO52oA7PI
— Padraig Harrington (@padraig_h) September 23, 2017
2/2 amateurs who try to keep their head still in the backswing tend to arch their back to compensate leading to back pain and errant shots.
— Padraig Harrington (@padraig_h) September 23, 2017
Eddie Pepperell: Q School, sprained ankles and farewell to the driver
Getting to know you: Rising star Lucas Bjerregaard
Spain and smoking, with Nicolas Colsaerts
Mark Townsend
Been watching and playing golf since the early 80s and generally still stuck in this period. Huge fan of all things Robert Rock, less so white belts. Handicap of 8, fragile mind and short game
