On a day when three Portuguese passed the cut for the third year in a row and for the fourth time in the history of 15 editions of the Portugal Masters, Ricardo Santos continued to be the best national and Italian Nino Bertasio, who has competed in Portugal since his amateur days , maintained the command of the most important Portuguese golf tournament, now reduced to 104 players, after four withdrawals in the first two rounds.

There were, however, many differences in these first two rounds of the only Portuguese tournament in the European Tour, with 1.5 million euros in prize money, which, in two days, has already surpassed 10,400 spectators. Especially in terms of game conditions, with more sun, less clouds, a more lenient wind, the ball flying and rolling a little more on the fairways in the hottest hours, and with the most complicated flags.

Italian Nino Bertasio didn’t dazzle like in his personal record (-10) yesterday, but he held out in front, with a second lap of 69 (-2), now totaling 130 (-12). The exciting Spaniard Adri Arnaus also held 2nd place. He made 67 (-4), adds 132 (-10), but now shares this dauphin position with three other players: the Danish Lucas Bjerregaard (67 + 65), the champion of the Portugal Masters in 2017; Belgian Thomas Pieters (68 + 64), who won the World Cup in 2018 and who has played in the European Ryder Cup team; and also the French Mathieu Pavon (68 + 64), who, like Arnaus, is hunting for his first title on the European Tour.

With regard to the Portuguese, Ricardo Santos (70 + 69) lost only one position compared to yesterday, Thursday, and is the 30th ranked (-3). As for Tomás Melo Gouveia and Vítor Londot Lopes, it is incredible how they continue to have equal results (71 + 69) and rose from 51st to 37th (-2). The cut was corrected at Par on the field and 65 players passed.

Among the Portuguese who missed the cut, Pedro Figueiredo (71 + 73) dropped from 51st to 74th (+2), Filipe Lima (72 + 73) fell from 65th to 81st (+3) and amateur Pedro Clare Neves (78 + 84) will occupy the 104th and last place (+20).

For Portuguese golf it was once again a positive day. The barrier of the three Portuguese passing the cut in the Portugal Masters was not yet broken, but this national record was repeated, corrected for the first time in 2012 and repeated in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Perhaps the most interesting data is The fact that, on these four occasions, when a Portuguese triumvirate played over the weekend, there were eight different players, which shows well the work that has been carried out by the Portuguese Golf Federation in this decade, constantly introducing new values.

In 2012 it was Ricardo Santos, Pedro Figueiredo and Ricardo Melo Gouveia, the latter two then still amateurs. In 2019 they were Ricardo Melo Gouveia, Tiago Cruz and Tomás Santos Silva. In 2020, Ricardo Santos, Ricardo Melo Gouveia and Tomás Bessa. In 2021, Ricardo Santos, Vítor Londot Lopes and Tomás Melo Gouveia, the latter two to set a personal record, as they never qualified for the weekend in Vilamoura.

Looking at these names, we see that Ricardo Melo Gouveia and Ricardo Santos are recurrent and, in fact, they are the most successful single Portuguese tournament on the European Tour: ‘Melinho’ passed the cut on eight occasions and Ricardo Santos did it today for fifth time, becoming the second best Portuguese in this competition.

The brothers Melo Gouveia, Santos and Londot Lopes have yet another point in common: they were all great figures in the famous amateur teams of the Vilamoura Golf Club, an authentic hotbed of national golf champions. In fact, Londot Lopes continues to represent Vilamoura as a professional. Santos, for his part, was, for several years, one of the ambassadors on the European Tour of the Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course.

Getting to know the countryside appreciated by the late Arnold Palmer is important and Nino Bertasio knows it well. He is competing in the Portugal Masters for the sixth year in a row. Only once did the cut fail and it was 12th (-12) in 2017. “I love this, the course is good, the weather too, the food is amazing, the hotel is friendly. It’s a course where I know if I play well I will do good results, “he said, after admitting that it was not easy to manage as yesterday’s emotions:” I won’t lie that it was difficult, with so many messages, social networks, but it was a good second round. week is like another tournament starting and I’m ready.”

The only aspect the leader complained about was not having put in many putts and that was a problem felt by many of the Portuguese as well. Ricardo Santos, 39, reached the top 20 when he found himself with 3 strokes under par in the second round (4 in total), thanks to birdies on holes 3, 4 and 8. He finished the 36th hole with 69 shots, 2 below Par, after 5 birdies and 3 bogeys, the last of them on 18, again due to having been forced to chip from the rough, as Pedro Figueiredo and Pedro Clare Neves were already successful yesterday (Thursday). That 18 rough around the green is fearsome and has been cursed by the Portuguese.

“At 18 I had bad luck in the ‘lie’ of the ball and I couldn’t risk playing straight to the flag, not even in the middle of the green. It’s always a very complicated chip because you don’t want to make a serious mistake to close it. And having water afterwards, with the fast greens, with the rough one around the green that is not consistent and you don’t know how the ball will react. Anyway it was a very good lap and I felt much better on the pitch”, said the 2011 and 2016 national champion , who added that he had “more birdie opportunities”.

Tomás Melo Gouveia, 27, started with 2 birdies on holes 11 and 12 (he left the 10). It’s true that later there was a series of bogey-birdie-bogey-Par-bogey on holes 15, 16, 17, 18 and 1, but he showed a lot of fiber when he recovered with more birdies on 5 and 9. The 69 strokes, 2 under do Par, become his best result ever in the tournament, being the first time he has played under par in eight rounds played at the Portugal Masters.

More than enough reasons to celebrate, even because he was playing with another Algarve, there were lots of fans welcoming them on the last hole (today the 9) and players toasted us with birdies: “I had never passed the cut and never had I was realistically close to passing it. It’s a spectacle to have so many people behind us to support us. Today I hit worse, but on the second nine holes I put in two big putts which I already pass more relaxed. But I only missed two fairways and two greens, so it was a very solid lap and I’m very happy.”

Tomás Melo Gouveia had predicted that, perhaps, he would play for the third round in a row with Vítor Lopes and that is exactly what will happen tomorrow. Londot Lopes converted 3 birdies like yesterday (17, 2 and 9) but, on the other hand, only lost one shot in 18 holes. You are mentally strong.

As the youngest of the Melo Gouveia, 69 (-2) is his best result ever in eight laps at the Portugal Masters, his first time in “red numbers”. He was always a birdie player (16 in the three previous participations and also 1 eagle), but he lost too many hits (18 bogeys and 4 doubles in the sum of 2017, 2018 and 2020). Now, you can see that it’s much more consistent.

“I trained well for this tournament. I’ve never felt so well prepared. I hit a lot of greens and fairways. I missed a few shots because of emotions, but I managed to control myself with the great support of the public. I had never passed the cut on my home course, it felt really good to have the audience support me. We pulled each other. I felt I was at the Portugal Masters, but it was another tour with my Tomás starch. 25 years old.

Regarding the three Portuguese who missed the cut, Pedro Figueiredo, aged 30, stood out for having ended his season on the European Tour.

‘Figgy’ didn’t start off at all badly, with 1 birdie on 11 (came out of 10), but was heavily penalized with a negative double-Par-double-bogey series on holes 12, 13, 14 and 15. The 2 birdies on 4 and at 7 there were not enough.

The 2 double-bogeys of the 2013 national champion are known to be due to balls in the water, exactly the same problem as Filipe Lima on holes 14 and 18. from the provisional cut, he still made 3 birdies 10, 12 and 15), but he also closes the season now. The 2017 national champion has promised to return next year for the Portugal Open and again for the Portugal Masters, but admits that you may have been his farewell to the tournament if the FPG fails to offer him an invite.

Quite different is the situation of Pedro Clare Neves, the 21-year-old amateur, who acknowledged having lived a hard day to swallow. Just like yesterday, he still had 1 birdie (17), but he was naturally saddened by the aggregate result of 20 over par. In any case, the Economics student at Universidade Católica do Porto valued the experience of having debuted on the European Tour and hopes to be able to repeat it.

The Portugal Masters continues tomorrow, Saturday, with the third and final lap, starting at 7:20 am. The last departure is at 12:40. Unlike previous days, all groups are composed of two players (except the first) and will only come out of hole 1.

The times for the information of Portuguese players are as follows: Vítor Lopes and Tomás Melo Gouveia play together at 8:50 am, and Ricardo Santos at 10:00 am, alongside Richey Ramsey from Scotland, winner of five European Tour titles.

Full descriptions are available on the Portugal Masters Facebook account.