European Tour

Portugal Masters 2018

September 20-23

Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, Vilamoura, Portugal

€2,000,000

Live leaderboard

September 20-23

Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, Vilamoura, Portugal

€2,000,000

Live leaderboard

Round 3

Herbert moves ahead in Vilamoura

Round 1

Round 2

Round 4

Round 1

Round 2

Round 4

September 22, 2018

Lucas Herbert recorded his best-ever 54-hole score on the European Tour to take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Portugal Masters.

- Getty Images

“I think this week is as close to the A game as we get. Some good confidence going into tomorrow that hopefully that form sticks around. I'm in the position I want to be in, so there's not much more we can do."

“I'll probably go and work on a couple of things with the iron play. At the moment it doesn't quite feel right. The good thing was I was able to manage it. If I hit bad shots I tended to miss them in the right spots, which was quite pleasing. It made it pretty easy to keep the bogeys off the card."

“I just need to get out of my own way tomorrow to be honest. I've played really good up until this point. I don't really need to do anything different or special. Just stick to the processes, keep picking the right shots and doing a good job with all of that. That's all I can control.”

Herbert has been relying on invites this season, but the 22 year old has a great chance to earn his card for 2019, coming into this week in 103rd place in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex after four top tens. He's now in a good position to become the first wire-to-wire winner on Tour since England's Matt Wallace at last season's Open de Portugal at Morgado Golf Resort.

Lewis, the 2011 Portugal Masters champion, was one shot over par at the end of the first round but has made 18 birdies with no dropped shots since then. He is enjoying a period of good form after claiming the Bridgestone Challenge title on the Challenge Tour two weeks ago.

“Great on Oli with the 59 yesterday. I had an opportunity out there to actually do that. It's something that I noticed with three holes to go. I wasn't that bothered at the end of the day. I'm pleased that I shot ten under par and put myself in there for tomorrow. Can only continue to make birdies and see what happens."

“When I won here I remember going out and not even thinking about winning. I just played my own golf and ended up winning by a couple. It will be different tomorrow because I think I'll be closer to the lead."

“It just depends on how comfortable I feel. My game hasn't been brilliant this week because it's my sixth week in a row, it's a lot for me. I think if I get the drives on the fairways I'm going to be around the pins. I'm rolling the ball well at the moment so they seem to be going in.”

Swede Marcus Kinhult and England's Eddie Pepperell are two shots behind Lewis and four off the lead at 15 under par, a shot clear of Finn Mikko Korhonen, Renato Paratore of Italy and Fisher - who followed up the first ever round of 59 on the European Tour on Friday with a 69.

“I missed a couple of putts from around ten feet," said Kinhult. "I gave myself some really good chances on the back nine but just didn't hole out. I think that was the real difference."

“I haven't won yet so it would mean the world to me to win here of course. I would secure my spot for Dubai I guess, and all of that, so there is a lot of good things that come with a win but there are still 18 holes to go. Lots of birdies still need to be made so we'll see. I hope I can post a good round tomorrow again and we'll see what happens.”

Spain's Pep Angles and Li Haotong of China are at 13 under par, with a group of five players - including two former winners of this event in Ireland's Shane Lowry and Andy Sullivan of England - one shot further back in a tie for tenth place.

After 81 players made the cut, a second cut at the end of round three has reduced the field to 72 players for Sunday's final round.