Maarten Lafeber takes two-shot lead into weekend at Portugal Masters
Dutchman Maarten Lafeber shot a five-under-par 67 Friday 15 October to take a two-stroke lead into the weekend at the Portugal Masters being played at the Oceanico Victoria Golf Course
in Vilamoura, Portugal.
Lafeber, who sits at 13-under-par for the tournament, got off to a blazing start, recording three birdies and an eagle in his opening six holes, holing out from the fairway with a sand
wedge on the par-four second hole for the eagle. But Lafeber, who shot a 64 in the first round, was unable to maintain his hot start, playing the final 12 holes at even-par, offsetting two birdies with two bogeys. Nonetheless, he is happy with his position.
"I knew it was going to be a bit easy today," said the 35-year-old, still searching for his second victory on the European Tour after winning the KLM Open in 2003. "I know from the last
few years that it's a golf course that you can make quite a lot of birdies, and I did that, especially yesterday, a lot of birdies and today I got off to a great start, so I'm really happy with how I'm playing."
Ranked 100th on the Race to Dubai standings, Lafeber has already guaranteed himself a spot on tour next season. But he still has hopes of cracking the top-60, which would qualify him for
the season-ending Dubai World Championship in November.
"Obviously I want to finish high and I feel like I should be a lot higher in The Race to Dubai,” he said. “Hopefully in the next few weeks I can still pull it off to get to Dubai and that
would be great."
Lafeber is being chased by Finland's Mikko Ilonen after the two-time winner on the European Tour followed up an opening round 65 with a solid four-under-par 68. Ilonen’s two victories
came in 2007 and he would love to add to his win total this weekend.
"You think of getting back to the winner's category and that's been one of my goals for this year," he said. "I've been knocking on the door a few times this year, playing in the last
group in China, didn't quite finish it off.”
Two players, France’s Raphaël Jacquelin and Portugal's José Filipe Lima, share third place and sit only three shots back of the lead. Lima, playing in his home country, sits 180th on
the Race to Dubai Standings and a win this week would secure his playing card for next year.
“I'm quite happy about my game,” said Lima, who was six shots better on Friday, following up his opening round 70 with a 64. “My driving was there, that's why I'm quite happy about that.”
“I’ll try to do my best,” he continued. “If nothing happens, I'll go to Q School and do my best over there.”
Four players from the victorious European Ryder Cup team sit well back of the leaders. Francesco Molinari sits at eight-under, Ross Fisher is at six-under, while Edoardo Molinari and Miguel-Angel
Jimenez both sit at five-under, eight shots back of the lead.
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