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Porteous joins the lead in the Czech Republic
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Porteous joins the lead in the Czech Republic

Haydn Porteous birdied two of his first three holes to join the lead in the final round of the D+D REAL Czech Masters.

Haydn Porteous

Lee Slattery had entered day four with a two-shot lead and while he started with three pars to stay at 12 under, that was not enough to keep the big-hitting South African at bay.

England's James Morrison made a stunning start with five birdies in seven holes to get to 11 under, two shots clear of Pontus Widegren and three ahead of Tom Lewis, Matteo Manassero, Jason Scrivener, Callum Shinkwin and Bernd Ritthammer.

Morrison made a brilliant start with birdies on the first, second and fourth to get to nine under and debutant Jonathan Thomson was soon just a shot behind him after getting up and down from the back of the par five opener.

Manassero was also eight under after playing an excellent tee-shot into the seventh to follow up a pair of opening gains.

Porteous almost made an eagle on the first as he spun his third inches past the hole but with Slattery only making par after finding the sand, the lead was down to one.

Lewis then joined the group at eight under with birdies on the first, sixth and eighth.

Widegren had failed to take advantage of the first but holed a lengthy putt for birdie on the second, with Thomson hitting a poor tee-shot and three-putting from the fringe for a double-bogey.

Porteous was dialled-in already and when he spun his ball back towards the target for the second hole running, he was in a share of the lead.

It was turning into a bit of a birdie-fest and Scrivener made a third gain of the day on the sixth to get to eight under, with Morrison repeating the trick in the group behind for a fourth birdie to get into double-figures.

Shinkwin also birdied the sixth to move to eight under where he was joined by Ritthammer with gains on the first, fourth and seventh.

Morrison was putting on a clinic on the greens and when he holed from 20 feet on the seventh, he was just a shot off the lead.

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