Poor round sees Vickery slide at Montado

JOE Vickery had a day to forget at the Portuguese Amateur Championship as the first-round co-leader from Newport followed up his opening 68 with an error-ridden 79 at Montado.

Vickery carded four double bogeys as he slipped from four-under to three-over-par and a share of 32^nd place at the halfway stage of the tournament near Lisbon.

He should still make the cut after today’s third round but anything like yesterday will see Vickery on the plane home.

His second round started woefully with a bogey at the first followed by two dropped shots at the par-five second. Two successive birdies at holes four and five repaired some of the damage but after that it was nearly all downhill.

A bogey at the sixth and double bogey at the eighth contributed to a score of 40 on the front nine and although one stroke was picked up at the short 12^th, four went by the wayside at 14 and 17.

Richard Bentham is now the top Welshman as he shot a one-under 71 to sit on level-par with Ireland’s Eoin Arthurs and Norway’s Kristoffer Ventura in 15^th place.

A consistent back nine, which included two birdies and no dropped shots, made up for a messy start and leaves Bentham four shots behind outright leader Eddie McCormack of Ireland.

Pennard’s James Frazer is also in with a shout after recording a one-over round of 73 to go with his 72 on day one. He could have been a lot further adrift of the leader though had it not been for a fight back after the turn.

The 2011 Duncan Putter champion was +4 after seven holes but used all his nous to turn his fortunes around and finish -3 for the back nine.

Reigning Welsh boys’ champion David Boote faces a tough task to make the cut though his one-over 73 was five shots better than his first round total. In a tie for 72^nd, making the top 40 for tomorrow’s final round doesn’t look likely for the youngster.