All three players sit at -6 after rounds of 66, one clear of Johan Edfors and Mark Brown, and two ahead of a group at -4 that includes last week’s winner on the Staysure Legends Tour, Craig Farrelly.

For Drummond – who famously claimed the DP World Tour’s flagship PGA Championship at Wentworth in 2004 – there was even more to savour after a remarkable burst of nine consecutive birdies, equalling a world record feat that has been achieved only a handful of times in professional golf.

Having started slowly and missed a couple of good birdie chances early on, Drummond’s round ignited with a sand wedge to 10ft on the 6th hole and the Scot just kept on holing putts all the way through to the 14th.

“I just hit a hot streak, it was pretty surreal. I knew that guys had made nine before, but I didn’t know what the record was. It makes it a bit more disappointing that I didn’t make my putt for 10 in a row,” said Drummond after his record-tying round.

“There are a few wide holes you’d say are quite easy, but you have to drive it well to set yourself up for chances. The green complexes are pretty tricky too, so you have to be dialed in with your yardages. Today I had a lot of good numbers, so I could hit pretty solid shots and not worry about being too short or too long. I was just going straight at the flags. At the end of the day, though, you’ve got to make the putts, no matter how well you play.”

After opening his birdie account on the 6th he then proceeded to chip his third close on the par-five 7th and followed that with birdie putts from 15ft, 6ft, 12ft, 7ft and 18ft.

“We were kind of smiling a little at this point, the putts were just pouring in,” he added. “Then I hit a 3-wood and an 8-iron to about 15 feet on the next and drained that one, and a driver and sand wedge to about 12 feet for the ninth in a row. It was pretty surreal.”

Drummond’s 66 was matched by Jean Hugo, who claimed a maiden win on the Staysure Legends Tour at the Reignwood Legends Championship in Beijing last month. The South African made seven birdies in his round and was full of praise for the stunning Pinheirinho layout.

“It’s a great experience, the layout is awesome,” said Hugo. “There are some tricky holes down the back nine, and I think by Sunday it will be a vital stretch. It’s a real pleasure to play. You have to manage your way around and place the ball on the greens to have some chances, which I did reasonably well today. You have to expect that sometimes it’s going to be tough to get it close, but for now it was a good round.”

One of the later starters, 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie, then made it a three-way tie at the top, holing a testing par putt on the difficult 18th to stay at -6. The Scot admitted he has been struggling with his game but was delighted to have found some form in Portugal.

“I’ve been struggling, I’ve been playing pretty poorly,” said Lawrie. “It hasn’t been a great 18 months, to be honest. I thought, right, I either have to dig in and do some work or just stop, and I wasn’t ready to stop. So I’ve been practising every morning at home, and it’s nice to come out to a tournament for the first time in a while and play well.

“I’ve been working quite hard on it. I haven’t played a lot of tournament golf because I’ve been trying to work on a few bits and pieces and get my game in better shape, which I’ve managed to do. I hit a lot of good iron shots today, inside 10 feet a lot, which is what you have to do out here. I played lovely all day. The ball striking was excellent. I missed a couple of putts, but I made a couple too. I’ve been working on something new on my putting with my nephew, and it was a lot better today than it’s been. It was a good day.”

Play resumes at 09:00 on Saturday morning with entry free to spectators.

Our Partners