Melo Gouveia promises a fight and Schneider is on track
The Portuguese Ricardo Melo Gouveia lost some ground in the race for the 59th edition of the Open de Portugal, dropping to 12th place at the Royal Óbidos Golf Resort, where the German Marcel Schneider took the lead.
On a day of unstable weather conditions and with the wind blowing, sometimes with some intensity, Melo Gouveia was not as effective in the “greens” and added a total of 209 strokes (72 + 66 + 71) at the end of the third back from the scoring tournament for the Challenge Tour and organized by the Portuguese Golf Federation.
“I started very well, solid and I could have done the third birdie ” [uma abaixo] on hole three. Then I made a “bogey” [uma acima] on the 8th hole and it seems to have caught a bit in the rhythm of my lap. I was playing well, but I wasn’t putting in the putts that yesterday [sexta-feira] entered “, began by telling the professional from Quinta do Lago.
After signing three birdies (on holes 1, 2 and 7) and one above on 8, Melo Gouveia, holder of five Challenge Tour titles, two of them won this season, signed a “double bogey” (two above) in hole 15, before closing with a birdie nº 18, and was further away from the fight for the current Portuguese.
“Tomorrow [domingo] I will be a little more aggressive, I have nothing to lose. I feel my long game is good enough to be more aggressive. That will be my strategy, “assumed Melo Gouveia, runner-up in the” Race to Majorca “.
By making the effective member of the Challenge Tour, Pedro Figueiredo staged his best performance today, thanks to greater efficiency on the greens, and completed the third round with 68 shots, four under par, ascending to 18th place on the leaderboard, with a total of 210 shots (70 + 72 + 68).
“With the wind that was today, it was a good lap. I played very similar to the first two days, but the putt “was a little better. In fact, today I hit less “greens” (15), while in the previous days I did 16. O game has been very consistent, I was a little more tuned in the “greens”, which consumed a lap of minus four”, explained the European Tour pro, after noting four “birdies” (1, 3, 9 and 12).
Miguel Gaspar, the third of the 15 Portuguese who started the tournament to pass the “cut”, found the greens as his greatest difficulty along the penultimate lap, having fulfilled the par on the field to place himself in 50th place in the rating, with a total of 215 “shots” (70 + 73 + 72).
“I started to play really well from the 6th hole, but the putt was not on my side and then I missed a few “shots”. general it was the “putt” that took me two or three blows that would help me tomorrow [domingo]”, commented, without final, the professional from Belas Clube de Campo.
For the third consecutive day, the lead of the Portuguese Open changed hands and, having completed the first 54 holes, it is German Marcel Schneider who takes the lead for the last race for the title, after signing the best score of the day, 65 strokes, for a total of 199 shots, three fewer than second-placed Spaniard Alejandro Del Rey.