Two-two Lara starts charge

Spain’s Jose Manuel Lara today came up with a spectacular way to become a contender for the Portuguese Open at Oitavos.

Seven behind overnight leader Ross McGowan, Lara holed his second shot to the 416-yard first for an eagle and then had his second two of the day on the joint third.

From joint 23rd Lara was suddenly up into a tie for eighth place and had hopes of adding to his maiden European Tour victory in Hong Kong in November.

McGowan held a two-stroke advantage over fellow Englishman Nick Dougherty, but is playing only his third Tour event after turning professional in the same week that Lara won in Asia.

Among those alongside Lara on two under par was Paul Broadhurst, trying to become only the fifth player in European history to win a tournament three years in a row.

Considering the other four were Ian Woosnam, Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie and Tiger Woods (twice) it was a pretty elite band to join.