Randhawa flying high in Portugal

India’s Jyoti Randhawa should have plenty to talk about with his Bollywood actress wife at the moment.

She is back home promoting her new movie and he resumed today one off the lead after an opening six-under-par 66 at the Portugal Masters in Vilamoura.

Randhawa married Chitrangada “Tina” Singh in 2000 and it was three years later that she shot to fame with her debut movie.

More followed and she also became a fashion model, but that inevitably took her away from Randhawa more than they both liked.

“Spending time together was getting to be an issue for us,” he said. “Either I was playing golf or she was busy doing movies.

“Finally she herself decided to quit as she wanted to stay with me all the time – and I must say I was happy with her decision.”

They had their first child last year and now feels able to start making films again.

“The number one actress in Bollywood, I would say, gets about half a million pounds. Tina got €100,000 for her biggest hit.

“She’s more famous than me. She didn’t come here because she has to promote a movie which is releasing in a month’s time and I think she’s doing another one in January sometime.”

A first prize of nearly €500,000 is on offer at the Oceanico Victoria Club and that would certainly help to offset the losses they have suffered on the stock market.

“I stopped looking. Almost all the savings and mutual funds in India are 50% down from January, so I needed to play better golf!”

So does overnight leader Stuart Manley. The Welshman, a Walker Cup hero at Ganton in 2003, is down in 174th on the money list with two events to go.

The 29-year-old has missed the halfway cut in 20 of his 30 events this season and has to climb into the top 115 to avoid a return to the Tour qualifying school.

“It’s a good time to find form,” he said. “I’ve been fantastic in practice, so it must be a mental issue somewhere.”

With efforts from 30, 10 and 20 feet be birdied three of his last four to relegate England’s Mark Foster, Randhawa and big-hitting Spaniard Alvaro Quiros into second place.

Robert Karlsson, €144,000 ahead of Padraig Harrington at the top of the Order of Merit, has a chance to more than quadruple that lead with the Open and US PGA champion having chosen to go to Bermuda instead this week for the Grand Slam of Golf.

With no Harrington around – he lost a play-off to Jim Furyk – the 39-year-old Swede started with a three-under 69.

Playing partners Lee Westwood and Miguel Angel Jimenez, third and fourth in the table, managed only 72 and 73 respectively.

“I played like a tired man that wants the year to end,” stated Westwood, who described his decision to go for the green in two on the long 17th as “amateurish.”

He found the lake, then three-putted for a double-bogey seven.