Given his talent for performing well in difficult weather conditions, it came as no surprise to see Scotland’s Paul Lawrie atop the leaderboard in the third round of the Estoril Open de Portugal Caixa Geral de Depositos. The Scotsman holds a one shot lead over England’s Barry Lane, and Portugal’s Jose-Filipe Lima, both of whom completed their third rounds on Sunday morning.
The torrential rain which swept across the Oitavos Golfe course at Quinta da Marinha forced three separate suspensions of play during Saturday’s third round, leading to three hours play lost in total.
It meant the last two groups were unable to complete their third rounds and were forced to return at 8.00am on Sunday morning to do so before the draw for the fourth round was made, the final round taking place from a two tee start.
Those two groups included Lane, and Lima, as well as Paul Broadhurst of England, who finished two behind Lawrie to occupy fourth place on the leaderboard.
When the klaxons finally sounded to end play for the day at 8.00pm on Saturday night, Lawrie, whose last three victories on The European Tour International Schedule have come in inclement weather conditions – the Open Championship at Carnoustie in 1999, the dunhill links championship at St Andrews in 2001 and The Celtic Manor Wales Open in 2002 – was again in pole position after narrowly squeezing in his 18 holes in the last vestiges of light.
The 36 year old Scot, who started round three in a tie for fifth place on six under par 136, carded a superb five under 66 for to post an 11 under par total of 202. Lawrie had seven birdies in total in his round, including three in his last six holes, but perhaps the best shot of the day was his exquisite pitch at the final hole in near darkness, sending the ball to within a foot of the cup from where he holed out for a par four.
The Scot did have a stroke of good fortune at the 17th, his overhit approach shot heading for the bushes before, incredibly, it came to rest in the seat of a parked buggy. He was given a free drop and went on to pitch and two putt for a bogey five – but it could have been much worse.
"I can't deny that I do play well in bad conditions," said Lawrie. “It's pretty bad back home half the time so I just stand up there and keep playing. It doesn't bother me at all be it a nice day or a horrible day. You have to just try and not let it affect you.
"I played nicely again today, I was very solid and apart from hitting the wrong club at the 17th, it was a really good day and it was good to finish given the fading light."
Lane had a fairly steady third round compared to that of Lima. The 44 year old Englishman put together five birdies, 11 pars and two bogeys for a third round 68, while, Lima endured a roller coaster third round, starting off with a triple bogey seven to drop off the top of the leaderboard.
The 24 year old – winner of the Aa St Omer Open in 2004 – recovered brilliantly from that early set back though, playing the remaining 17 holes in five under par to post a 69 and hoist himself back into contention to become the first Portuguese winner of the Estoril Open de Portugal Caixa Geral de Depositos in the 52 year history of the event.
Broadhurst finally finished his third round with a one under 70 to put some light between himself and Welshman Stephen Dodd, who shares fifth place with Scotland’s Alastair Forsyth, three shots behind Broadhurst and five behind Lawrie.
