Vickery shares early lead in Portugal

NEWPORT’S Joe Vickery made a superb start to his Portuguese Amateur Championship campaign and has a share of the lead after the first round.

His four-under-par 68 was matched by three other men, including England’s Curtis Griffiths, while Pennard’s James Frazer was the next best Welshman at Montado Golf Club with a level par 72.

St Pierre’s Richard Bentham was a shot further back with David Boote struggling on +6, a full 10 shots off the lead after the opening 18 holes.

It couldn’t have gone a lot better for Vickery although his tournament got off to an inauspicious start when he dropped a shot at the par-four 359-yard first.

However, that was quickly forgotten as Vickery birdied the second and third holes before picking up shots at the sixth, seventh and ninth for a superb 32 on the front nine.

The back nine didn’t prove as fruitful, with a bogey on the 14^th followed by a birdie on the par-five 15^th, but all in all it was a very satisfying day for Vickery.

Frazer blew hot and cold in his opening round with five birdies countered by the same number of dropped shots though he did consolidate with pars on the last five holes to give him a share of 20^th place.

As for Bentham, his was very much a round of two halves with 32 strokes going out followed by 41 coming home for a 73.

He raced to -3 after just two holes before birdieing the short eighth, but after that it was a question of damage limitation as Bentham dropped five shots on the final seven holes.

Current Welsh boys’ champion Boote, based at Walton Heath in Surrey, didn’t have the best of days.

The youngster’s wayward hitting cost him with four bogeys and two double bogeys blighting his round with only two birdies in return.