September 10-13
Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, Vilamoura, Portugal
€1,000,000
Round 2, Round 3, Round 4

Liam Johnston produced the lowest round of his European Tour career at Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, firing a sparkling round of 61 to lead by one shot at the end of the opening day of the 2020 Portugal Masters.

“With the rough out there it's nice to keep the bogeys off the card. I saved well when I needed to and holed a lot of putts out there. Delighted with the ten birdies. 

“I told my coach back home I was swinging it as good as I ever have, and my game feels like it's trending in the right direction. More importantly, I'm in a really good place mentally. I didn't see a round like this coming, but I felt like I was playing well. 

“I had no idea (that 59 was a possibility). I was just talking to Kristoffer Broberg there and just noticed it was a 71, I thought it was a par 72. Obviously, I was trying to hole that putt on 17 to make eagle and just left it a little bit short. Nice par on the last.”

At nine under par through 16 holes the Scot was in contention to match the historic 59 Oliver Fisher shot here two years ago. He narrowly cleared the water with his approach into the par five 17th but could not hole his eagle putt from range. A par on the last took the two-time European Challenge Tour winner to ten under par, one shot ahead of Frenchman Julien Guerrier.

“I really enjoyed how I played the course today," said Guerrier. "The conditions were great, the weather was perfect. I played great, I hit a lot of fairways and I think that is the key here.

“As soon as I hit my ball into the rough it was a different hole. You fight for the par and when you put your ball on the fairway it's like a birdie chance. You try to make it the best you can.”

England's Laurie Canter is at seven under par after a round of 64, as all of the leading three players went bogey-free in Vilamoura. Northern Ireland's Jonathan Caldwell is at six under par, one shot ahead of South African George Coetzee, England's Matthew Jordan, Dane Thorbjørn Olesen and Sebastian Soderberg of Sweden.

“I don't think I've done that for a while to be fair, bogey-free, I've had my fair share of bogeys so it's nice to keep them off the card for a day," said Guerrier.

“There's a couple of new things I've been working, nothing radical really, just some good, smart advice from some good coaches and my other half, Anna, is now my manager so I've got to put it down to her really."

A group of 12 players are then at four under par, with World Number 16 Tommy Fleetwood and the highest-placed Portuguese player Tomás Bessa amongst a further eight players at three under par.

“Overall I was happy," said Fleetwood. "I had a dodgy spell through three, four, five, six and then started hitting it well and had chances. The course is a different test to what it's always been. I drove it great, ignore the one on the last, I drove it really well and gave myself a lot of chances. It's nice to be playing this course again.

“Today I felt like I was working hard, like every shot, but the more I felt myself strike the golf ball, look up and it doing what I would like it to do, the more confidence you build and that's exactly why I'm playing this week. You've got to play golf really, in tournament conditions, and it's always nice to see some work pay off in a tournament.”

Meanwhile, India's Shubhankar Sharma recorded the first albatross on the 2020 Race to Dubai, holing out from 241 yards with his second shot on the 588 yard par 17th hole.