Welshman Phillip Price set a new course record of 65 round the Sir Henry Cotton-designed course at Le Meridien Penina to move back into a share of the lead in the Algarve Portuguese Open.
Price has only led once before going into the final round, in this event in 1994 and on that occasion he won. Joining Price on ten under is Scotland’s Gary Orr, three times a runner-up but still chasing his maiden European Tour triumph.
Price got off to the perfect start, rolling in a 25 foot birdie putt on the first green to get his round moving. With birdies on the third, fifth and seventh he was out in 31, four under. After adding another two birdies on the 14th and 15th the Welshman escaped with pars on the next two holes, playing a perfectly judged chip and run from beside a rock on the 16th to make four and then almost holing a bunker shot on the following hole. By rolling in a 15 foot putt on the last he set a new course record.
“ I holed a 25 foot putt on the first and that got me going,” he said. “All the others were in there quite close.”
While Price moved into a share of the lead with a near flawless display, Orr’s round was quite the opposite.
Starting the day on eight under par and two clear of the field, the 32-year-old three putted the first and then hooked his second beside some bushes and dropped another. By the time he missed the green on the 176-metre sixth hole and dropped another he had been overhauled at the top of the leaderboard. But on the back nine he rallied, turning his score around with a 30 foot birdie putt on the 11th and then picking up four more birdies in the last five holes for a back nine of 32 for a round of 70, two under, to regain his place at the top of the pack.
“I got out of jail today,” he said. “I can’t expect to do that all the time so I will have to play better golf tomorrow. Simple as that. If I can play like I did the first two rounds then I will be in with a chance.”
Orr and Price are two of the form players this season, both sharing second in the Alfred Dunhill Championship at the start of the year and then sharing eighth place in the Greg Norman Holden International. Orr has only led going into the final round once before, during the TNT Dutch Open when Lee Westwood charged through the field with a course-record 63 to claim the title.
Three shots adrift of the leading pair is Ireland’s Paul McGinley. Five succesive birdies, a record for the former World Cup winner, from the third got the round going but he slipped up on the 17th, his second shot bouncing through the green to the edge of a ditch. Although the ball was playable, he was unable to take a solid stance and took four to get down. Nevertheless his round of 67, five under, leaves him very much in contention.
