Portugal Masters Day 3

Still All Smiles for Andy Sullivan

It was all Andy Sullivan again today as he added a solid 67 to his opening two rounds of 64, 64. He is now sitting very comfortably on a five shot lead, and is in pole position to win his third European Tour title this season.

"I'm just playing really good golf at the moment and just hung in there early doors and managed to knock a few good putts in early," he said. "And I just kept that going throughout the round and ended up finishing four under for the day, which is awesome in that horrible weather out there.

“I thought I handled myself well. I didn't really feel like I'd done much wrong out there today. I think every part of my game is in good touch, and I didn't really ever leave myself too much to do.”

Although he managed to weather the storm, he did drop shots on the par 4 seventh and the par 3 16th. But that means he’s only dropped three shots in three rounds, which is testimony to just how well he is playing.

The threat of bad weather led to a shotgun start, and rain and storms duly arrived in the afternoon to make scoring that much harder than on the first two days. With more bad weather expected tomorrow, there will be another shotgun start.

When asked what his plan was for the final day he commented:

"More of the same hopefully. Just go out there and do my thing, and hopefully come in and sign for a good score again. Just go out there and do my thing like I have been, and take it shot by shot and see what happens."

Round of the day belonged to Chris Wood, who shot a bogey free 65 to propel himself up the leaderboard to be tied third with Jorge Campillo, and two shots behind second placed Eduardo De La Riva.

It was a better day for Nicolas Colsaerts, who shot a 68 that included five birdies and two bogeys. He’s now tied fifth with Thomas Pieters, who could only manage a one over 72.

Others to mention in dispatches include Bernd Wiesberger, who could not maintain yesterday's momentum, and shot one over par to tie at nine under with Thomas Bjørn, Trevor Fisher Jnr and Hennie Otto.

Bernd Wiesberger not quite walking on water today.

Tommy Fleetwood and Anthony Wall, who struggled with the conditions, made no progress and both shot rounds of one over par to sit tied 11th with David Drysdale.

In this form Andy Sullivan is going to be really hard to beat. He’s got the cushion he wants, and it looks like baring a disaster he will win this wire to wire.

Wind gets up for Wall.