Smith moves clear in Portugal in bid for second DP title
Jordan Smith will take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the Portugal Masters as he bids for a second DP World Tour title.
The Englishman, whose maiden success came in 2017 at the Porsche European Open, carded his second nine-under-par round of the week at Dom Pedro Victoria, reaching 22-under-par.
After carding an eagle and seven birdies through 15 holes, the Englishman threatened the DP World Tour’s second 59, also achieved at this golf course, but he played the final three holes in level par to eventually sign for a nineunder 62.
He is two strokes ahead of Malaysia’s Gavin Green, who carded a seven-under 64 to sit in second place as he bids for a maiden DP World Tour title.
In third place is Germany’s Sebastian Heisele on 17-under-par. The 34-year-old is planning on retiring from professional golf and taking up coaching after this week’s tournament.
Sharing fourth on 15 under are Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Hurly Long of Germany, England’s Eddie Pepperell and Tapio Pulkkanen of Finland. Aphibarnrat would need to finish in solo second place at a minimum to retain his playing privileges for 2023 as he started the week outside the top 117 on the DP World Tour Rankings.
Smith insists he won’t be holding back as he goes in search of the title.
He said: “I’m just going to go out there and play the attacking golf that I’ve done the last three days, hitting driver everywhere and taking advantage of the soft greens.
“If it happens it happens.
“The key one was there on
15, it was a horrendous lie in the rough. I was trying to play away from the pin, it came out a bit right, landed and next thing we know it’s gone in the hole. It was a lot of good stuff. I’m just really happy with the way I played and held in there.
“(The putter) was something that I was meant to test and see how it went in the off season. I just happened to put it in the bag for the sake of it in France just to see how it went and it felt awesome. My coach said let’s just go for it. It’s helped out and the numbers have looked good on it.”
LEADERBOARD
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 71) 191 – Jordan Smith 62 67 62
193 – Gavin Green (Mal) 64 65 64
196 – Sebastian Heisele (Ger) 67 64 65 198 – Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 66 64 68, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 65 70 63, Hurly Long (Ger) 65 67 66, Eddie Pepperell 67 64 67
199 – Jason Scrivener (Aus) 66 67 66, David Drysdale 66 68 65, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 66 64 69
200 – Joost Luiten (Ned) 63 69 68, Ross Fisher 66 67 67, Marcel Schneider (Ger) 68 67 65, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 67 69 64, Joel Stalter (Fra) 65 67 68
201 – Sebastian Soederberg (Swe) 67 68 66, Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 66 67 68, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 67 66 68, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 66 65 70, Daniel Hillier (Nzl) 65 68 68
202 – Sami Valimaki (Fin) 66 69 67, Nicolai von Dellingshausen (Ger) 65 66 71, Robin Roussel (Fra) 64 68 70
203 – Robert MacIntyre 68 69 66, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 66 70 67, Jeff Winther (Den) 63 70 70, Matthew Jordan 67 67 69, Matt Wallace 67 67 69, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 70 66 67, David Law 65 70 68, Dale Whitnell 69 69 65, Marcus Helligkilde (Den) 71 65 67, Julien Brun (Fra) 66 69 68, Tae-Hee Lee (Kor) 67 67 69, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 65 70 68, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 68 65 70
204 – Alex Fitzpatrick 71 66 67, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 70 68 66, Darius van Driel (Ned) 66 68 70, Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 70 67 67, Frederic Lacroix (Fra) 67 66 71, Lukas Nemecz (Aut) 69 67 68, Ashley Chesters 67 68 69, Renato Paratore (Ita) 68 66 70.