Caldwell the toast of Clandeboye after Portugal Masters ace
Julien Guerrier. Picture: Getty Images
Clandeboye's Jonny Caldwell is looking forward to making only his second Irish Open appearance and he was beaming yesterday as he holed a four-iron for his 10th career ace at the 218-yard sixth in the Portugal Masters, earning a gift of local wine.
"I think that's ten now," said Caldwell (36), who shot 72 to finish the day in tied 18th on five-under, nine shots behind runaway leader Julien Guerrier of France. "It's been a long time. The last one was maybe about seven or eight years ago."
The Co Down man (36) promised to buy a drink for his supporters at Clandeboye Golf Club though they cannot come to Galgorm Castle to cheer him on later this month.
"It's just unfortunate we can't have the crowds that we would normally get because they really do come out to support us well," he said.
As for the hole in one, he said: “I was In between cubs, so [my caddie] Henry [Tomlinson] says, camera tower, middle of the green, hold four-iron. So I push-held a four-iron and it's just pitched perfect to the front of the green and we were watching it release out and it disappeared.”
As overnight leader Liam Johnston followed his 61 with a 74, Guerrier shot a five-under 66 to lead by five shots from American Sihwan Kim on 14-under in Vilamoura.
Enjoy guys 🍷🍷
— Jonathan caldwell (@jonnyc1984) September 11, 2020
The Island's Gavin Moynihan missed the one-under-par cut by a shot after a 71 — his seventh in a row and his second by just one shot — while Cormac Sharvin was five shots further back after a 76.
Guerrier played some tremendous iron shots and putted well to make seven birdies and just two bogeys in blustery morning conditions at Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, setting a testing clubhouse target of 14 under par.
The afternoon starters could not get anywhere near Guerrier's total, handing him the largest 36 hole lead of the 2020 Race to Dubai so far.
Kim is Guerrier's closest challenger on nine under par after he reeled off five birdies in his last six holes to post a 66.
First round leader Johnston of Scotland saw a different side to the Vilamoura course on Friday, carding a three-over-par round of 74 after his opening 61 to sit in a nine-way tie for third place alongside Guerrier’s countrymen Antoine Rozner and Adrien Saddier, English pair Matthew Jordan and Marcus Armitage, Scott Vincent of Zimbabwe, South African Wilco Nienaber, Adrian Meronk of Poland and Dane Martin Simonsen.
Julien Guerrier: "I'm feeling great. It looks easy but it's not. After you shoot nine-under it's always tough to make a good score, so I'm really happy to play well. I just try to hit the fairways and hit the greens. I'm feeling good on the greens, so I think it's easier when you are confident around the ball.
"In Valderrama (last week) it was really tough so that was more about fighting spirit. After the injury, you try to get a good level and find your mark on your game under pressure so it's perfect for me to play on the weekend."
Sihwan Kim; "I putted really well, I just have some clean up to do with the shots to the green, but once I got on the green, my putting was really good.
"No pars on the back, just birdies and bogeys, and I'm just glad I had more birdies than bogeys. It's tough when you miss the fairway, and every time I missed the fairway I put it in tough spots to make up and down.
"Julien is a very good player and obviously he's the only one on top just now. I'll try my best to keep up. I know Sunday is supposed to be really windy and anything can happen there. I'll try to make up as much ground as possible tomorrow and just go for it on Sunday."
Liam Johnston: "I saw the bite of the course today. I just struggled with my swing a little bit, but it's fine. I grafted really well. I'm actually really proud with only shooting three over today. The rough was tough and I kept hitting it in and leaving myself in bad spots. I actually made a lot of good putts for par so I'm glad to still be in the hunt after a day that didn't feel good.
"I had a lot of par putts from just inside ten feet and I made a lot of good ones. Unfortunately made three bogeys. Couldn't make a birdie today, just couldn't hit it close enough to be honest. I stuck with it and tried to stay patient and glad to still be in the tournament."
Portugal Masters, Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course (Par 71)
128 J Guerrier (Fra) 62 66,
133 S Kim (USA) 67 66,
135 L Johnston (Sco) 61 74, M Jordan (Eng) 66 69, A Saddier (Fra) 67 68, A Rozner (Fra) 68 67, M Armitage (Eng) 68 67, M Simonsen (Den) 68 67, A Meronk (Pol) 69 66, W Nienaber (RSA) 70 65, S Vincent (Zim) 70 65,
136 L Canter (Eng) 64 72, G Coetzee (RSA) 66 70, R Fox (Nzl) 67 69, N Bertasio (Ita) 67 69, P Waring (Eng) 67 69, J Donaldson (Wal) 69 67,
137 Jonny Caldwell (NIr) 65 72, T Olesen (Den) 66 71, B Stone (RSA) 67 70, R Bland (Eng) 67 70, F Laporta (Ita) 67 70, T Gandy (Imn) 69 68, J Scrivener (Aus) 69 68, J Veerman (USA) 69 68,
138 L Bjerregaard (Den) 67 71, M Kawamura (Jpn) 67 71, G Migliozzi (Ita) 67 71, S Brown (Eng) 68 70, T Bessa (Por) 68 70, J Lagergren (Swe) 69 69, S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 70 68, D Drysdale (Sco) 70 68,
139 J Campillo (Esp) 68 71, T Fleetwood (Eng) 68 71, G Porteous (Eng) 70 69, N Lemke (Swe) 70 69, R Karlberg (Swe) 72 67, G Forrest (Sco) 72 67,
140 B Easton (RSA) 68 72, R Enoch (Wal) 69 71, R Santos (Por) 69 71, J Senior (Eng) 69 71, D Law (Sco) 69 71, J Suri (USA) 69 71, B Evans (Eng) 69 71, P Larrazábal (Esp) 69 71, W Besseling (Ned) 70 70, T Pulkkanen (Fin) 70 70, A Björk (Swe) 70 70, G Fernandez-Castaño (Esp) 71 69, D Coupland (Eng) 72 68, J Smith (Eng) 73 67, T Tree (Eng) 73 67, S Sharma (Ind) 73 67,
141 S Soderberg (Swe) 66 75, D Whitnell (Eng) 67 74, M Schneider (Ger) 69 72, R Gouveia (Por) 69 72, M Southgate (Eng) 69 72, M Schmitt (Ger) 70 71, E Cuartero Blanco (Esp) 70 71, A Cañizares (Esp) 70 71, L Van Meijel (Ned) 71 70, A Romero (Arg) 71 70, J Catlin (USA) 72 69, C Pigem (Esp) 72 69, B Stow (Eng) 72 69, A Quiros (Esp) 73 68, S Gallacher (Sco) 76 65,
Missed cut
142 J Lima (Por) 69 73, A Wu (Chn) 69 73, R Rock (Eng) 70 72, N Elvira (Esp) 71 71, Gavin Moynihan (Irl) 71 71, Z Murray (Aus) 72 70, M Kieffer (Ger) 72 70, A Karlsson (Swe) 72 70, K Samooja (Fin) 73 69, M Antcliff (Aus) 74 68,
143 R Roussel (Fra) 70 73, R Jacquelin (Fra) 70 73, K Broberg (Swe) 70 73, J Fahrbring (Swe) 71 72, V Lopes (Por) 71 72, J Luiten (Ned) 71 72, J McLeod (Aus) 72 71, R McEvoy (Eng) 72 71, S Heisele (Ger) 73 70, C Hill (Sco) 73 70, J Gonnet (Fra) 74 69, D Van Driel (Ned) 77 66,
144 J Olazábal (Esp) 73 71, D Huizing (Ned) 73 71, B Hebert (Fra) 74 70, C Paisley (Eng) 75 69,
145 T Bjørn (Den) 71 74, M Kinhult (Swe) 72 73, N Von Dellingshausen (Ger) 73 72, E De La Riva (Esp) 74 71,
146 M Pavon (Fra) 69 77, Cormac Sharvin (NIr) 70 76, O Fisher (Eng) 71 75, G Havret (Fra) 71 75, R Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 73 73, E Ferguson (Sco) 73 73, W Enefer (Eng) 74 72, R Fisher (Eng) 77 69, D Perrier (Fra) 77 69,
147 M Baldwin (Eng) 74 73, J Stalter (Fra) 74 73, L Gagli (Ita) 74 73,
148 T Santos Silva (Por) 70 78, P Figueiredo (Por) 72 76, H Porteous (RSA) 72 76, J Thomson (Eng) 74 74, H Li (Chn) 74 74, A Pavan (Ita) 74 74, J Kruger (RSA) 74 74, M Fenasse (Fra) 77 71,
149 D Howell (Eng) 71 78, P Lencart (Am) (Por) 72 77, J Walters (RSA) 73 76, J Sjöholm (Swe) 73 76, P Hanson (Swe) 74 75, W Ormsby (Aus) 75 74, J Kruyswijk (RSA) 77 72,
150 O Wilson (Eng) 76 74,
151 B Poke (Den) 74 77,
155 S Webster (Eng) 78 77,
156 M Gaspar (Por) 82 74,
WD A Levy (Fra) 78 WD
