The 63rd Open de Portugal saw a strong start at the Royal Óbidos Spa & Golf Resort. Dutch golfer Lars van Meijel took the solo lead on Thursday. He put on a flawless performance, rising above stiff competition. This event is part of the Challenge Tour.
The day began foggy, but a light breeze cleared it early. We had to wait until the very end to find our first leader. The 31-year-old Van Meijel sealed his top spot with a birdie on the last hole. This pushed him clear of everyone else in Europe’s second-tier golf tournament held in Portugal.
It was a great day for the local players too. Five of their eight golfers made the provisional cut, set at 70 strokes (one under par). Back to Van Meijel, the Dutchman finished his 18 holes with an impressive 64 strokes. He scored five birdies and one eagle. This put him just a single shot ahead of a group of five players. This quintet currently shares fifth place.
Early on, Italy’s Renato Paratore, Spain’s Quim Vidal, and Scotland’s Sam Locke showed strong form. They jumped to the top of the leaderboard with their excellent play. Paratore is chasing his third win this season, hoping for an automatic promotion to the DP World Tour. By day’s end, they were joined by Chile’s Gabriel Morgan and France’s Mathieu Decottignies. Decottignies lives in Portugal and trains at Oitavos.
A total of 144 players are competing, including nine from the “Road to Mallorca” top 10. Among them, Portugal’s Tomás Melo Gouveia and Tomás Bessa really stood out. Gouveia even led the tournament briefly. He was six under par after the first nine holes.
Melo Gouveia finished 10th here last year. He again proved his game suits the Seve Ballesteros-designed course. He played a strong front nine with six birdies. His back nine included four bogeys and one birdie.
Bessa’s round was more consistent. Two years ago, he shot nine under par on this course. Today, he carded six birdies and three bogeys. He now shares 18th place with 12 other golfers, including his countryman.
Besides Melo Gouveia, who is a Challenge Tour member, and Bessa, the national professional champion, three more Portuguese players made the provisional cut. Vasco Alves, Pedro Figueiredo, and Daniel Rodrigues also hit the 70-stroke target. This is one stroke under par.