Andy’s Algarve win did not surprise me

By Chris Wood

I really feared for the worst early in the week at the Portugal Masters when I was looking through the weather forecast and saw that thunderstorms were due to hit Vilamoura over the weekend.

A repeat of last year looked on the cards, when it was a complete disaster when heavy rain soaked the Oceanico Victoria course and the tournament was reduced to 36 holes.

Everyone lost out with that decision – the players, the sponsors, and the golf fans. Played over two rounds, it just was not a golf event.

And with Armageddon poised to strike again I felt sorry for everyone because this time of year the Algarve is a usually wonderful place to play golf. I always look forward to the week.

So all credit must be given to the action taken by Jose Maria Zamora, the tournament director, and the rest of the European Tour officials on site.

Their decision to organise a shotgun start for the third round on Saturday, with storms forecast to arrive at lunch, was an inspiration since using all 18 tees at the same time had not been seen on the circuit for more than 20 years.

And to then repeat the shotgun start on the Sunday morning and get the tournament finished with a full 72 holes played proved even wiser.

Because with lots of time to spare before my evening flight, I went down to the harbour at Vilamoura to have some lunch with my parents and my fiancée, Bethany. And as we sat at our table the heavens opened and there was torrential rain for an hour that we would not have been able to play in had the start times been conventional.

Furthermore, having played in the last group with Andy Sullivan and having teed off at the first and finished at the 18th in front of the large crowd, nobody lost out because of the shotgun arrangement.

All credit to Andy for the way he not only protected his five-shot overnight lead, but gradually built upon it to win by nine shots. He never missed a shot over the closing 18 holes.

Some might have been surprised by his domination of the week, but not me. Back in our junior days I played in several county matches against Andy and he was always a very tough competitor.

We had four or five really tight singles matches and I can’t remember the exact details, but they were always close and while I think I won a couple of them, I know he won a couple as well.

To have sunk a birdie putt on the last green to finish outright second, albeit nine shots behind Andy, meant it was a good week for me, but not one that Ihad been expecting.

I do not think my A-game was with me on the plane to Portugal and I certainly struggled on the greens over the first two days. They were a couple of feet slower than what we putt on most weeks.

But then I shot a 65 out of nowhere on Saturday, which was lowest by anyone on the day, and I managed to keep it together without playing at my best on Sunday as well.

Having lunch after the round on Saturday with Scotland’s Craig, I told him how I was looking forward to having a week off after playing four straight weeks.

But then I felt terrible when he told me that he was playing his ninth week in a row and travelling to Hong Kong because he was in danger of losing his playing card. So I was really pleased to see on Sunday that he had made four birdies in his last six holes to finish in tied sixth place and move inside the top 110 on the money list.

During my week’s downtime I will be building up my strength for the Race to Dubai Final Series.

Having finished second in the Algarve I have now climbed up to 18th in the money list, which means I will be playing for another four weeks  straight through until the end of the season in the Desert.

And that has to be some achievement considering I started the year with a bad injury having broken my wrist when falling awkwardly during a tennis lesson. Over the last few months I have really been playing consistently well.

First stop of the final series is in Turkey, where political tension is at a height after a recent terrorist bombing, a general election taking place on the day we will be playing our fourth round and a G20 heads of government conference being held in Antalya two weeks after our visit.

But I have no concerns about going there, because the Tour has taken advice on safety issues and, as The Golf Paper revealed last week, the tight security arrangements for the G20 will be in place by the time we arrive.

Tagged Andy Sullivan