Evans nets top six finish in Portugal

The Staplecross-based professional finished tied sixth in the Open de Portugal at Morgado Golf Resort with a 14-under-par 72-hole total of 278.

Evans began the tournament with back-to-back five-under-par rounds of 68 featuring seven birdies and two bogeys in each. He had to return on the third round morning to complete his second round after some bad weather on day one put the event behind schedule.

He then carded a level par 73 in round three as the wind made scoring a lot more difficult. After nine straight pars going out, Evans eagled the par five 10th but mixed two birdies with four bogeys over the closing six holes.

With scoring good once again on day four, Evans made three birdies in four holes from the fourth, and two more on the 10th and 12th, but a double bogey on the par five 13th checked his progress. He recovered, though, to birdie the par five 16th for the fourth time and sign for a four-under-par round of 69.

The result moved Evans up to 180th on the European Tour’s season-long Race to Dubai standings and seventh on the European Challenge Tour’s Road to Oman standings (the Open de Portugal counted for both lists).

It follows on from an encouraging tied 11th place finish in his previous outing, at the Turkish Airlines Challenge on the Challenge Tour last month.

And Evans will be hoping for more of the same when he lines up in the next European Tour event, the Rocco Forte Open at Verdura GC in Sicily, which starts on Thursday.

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