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Latest from Portugal Open, English unknown leads

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Latest from Portugal, English unknown leads

With the St Jude Classic in Memphis attracting the cream of European golfers this week (Lee Westwood looks to be in fine form for next week's US Open, after making a course record at TPC Southwind to take the lead after the first round yesterday), the field at the Estoril Open de Portugal is not, in all candour, the most spectacular.

Nonetheless, if the tournament has failed to attract the biggest names then it at least provides an opportunity for some more modest talents to enjoy a moment in the limelight. So it proved yesterday, when the close of the first round saw England's Luke Goddard sharing the lead with Irishman Damien McGrane, each man on eight-under-par 64.

If McGrane is unheralded, Goddard is practically unknown - the 22-year-old is ranked 1349th in the world, and is yet to win a penny on tour this season, his best result coming at last week's Karnten Golf Open where he finished tied for 65th place.

Nevertheless Goddard played magnificently yesterday, four birdies on his last four holes giving him a share of the lead after he had eagled the 11th earlier in the day (his round having begun on the back four).

That closing quartet might have left Goddard's admirers breathless, but the red-headed young dynamo has also begun his second round well. Three birdies and a bogey pushed him to 10-under for the tournament, a stroke ahead of yesterday's co-leader McGrane.

Eirik Tage Johansen, the early clubhouse leader yesterday, eventually found himself second to Goddard and McGrane when the opening round concluded;  the Norwegian is currently three shots off the lead, and yet to tee off today.

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