Sullivan pulls clear at Portugal Masters

England's Andy Sullivan will take a five-shot lead into the final round of the Portugal Masters on Sunday, seeking his third European Tour title of the season.

Sullivan opened up the sizeable gap after a shotgun start was used for the third round on Saturday to get the players in before thunderstorms forecast for later in the afternoon.

Whilst the rain and storms largely stayed away in the morning, the wind played havoc with birdies far harder to come by than on the first two days.

Sullivan, however, stood firm adding a 67 to back-to-back 64s to get to 18 under for the tournament.

That left him five shots ahead of Spain's Eduardo de la Riva, who closed with three successive birdies. Two shots further back came another Spaniard, Jorge Campillo and England's Chris Wood.

With further bad weather forecast for Sunday, there will be another early morning shotgun start as Sullivan attempts to add to the South African Open and Joburg Open titles he won earlier in the year.

"I'm just playing really good golf at the moment," said Sullivan.

"I hung in there early doors, and then managed to knock a few good putts in. I kept that going throughout the round, and to shoot four under for the day was pretty awesome in that horrible weather out there.

"It was really tough at times, and I feel mentally drained now because I had to concentrate so hard."

De la Riva said he was happy with his round of 68 given the weather conditions.

"It was very difficult to control your ball in the wind and putting was also very tough, so to shoot 68 was very pleasing.

"Five shots is a lot to make up and Andy is playing very, very well. But I will try tomorrow to shoot a low round and put some pressure on him."

Source: AFP