Andy Sullivan opened up a five-shot lead midway through the third round of the Portugal Masters as the wind made scoring difficult at Oceånico Victoria Golf Club.
A shotgun start was being used due to a threat of bad weather later in the day and, while the rain and storms largely stayed away in the morning, the wind was playing havoc with scoring far more difficult than the first two days.
It did not have an adverse effect on Sullivan, though, as the 28 year old turned in 33 to get to 16 under, five shots clear of Thomas Pieters with both men battling for a third European Tour title of the season.
The wind was clearly having an impact with lots of early bogeys and Tommy Fleetwood and Anthony Wall both recorded doubles on the first.
But Sullivan had no such trouble as he rolled in from 12 feet for an opening birdie and when Pieters dropped a shot at the second, the lead was up to five.
While most were having a torrid time with the conditions, Sullivan's progress was bordering on serene as he birdied the fourth and, despite a slightly wide tee shot, chipped to within six feet and picked up another shot on the fifth.
Pieters also made a gain on the fifth to get the lead back to six while Bernd Wiesberger remained at 10 under after his first seven holes courtesy of a birdie and a bogey.
The 510 yard par four seventh had been the hardest hole on the course over the first two days and, after claiming two of the 19 birdies made there in his first two rounds, Sullivan eventually fell victim to it.
His second shot found the sand and when he flew his bunker shot over the flag, he needed two putts to get down and the lead was down to five as Pieters made a par.
Wiesberger dropped a shot on the ninth to drop seven back of the leader and he was in a group with Thomas Bjørn, Nicolas Colsaerts and Eduardo de la Riva.
De la Riva was playing with Pieters and Sullivan and had bogeyed the first before picking up a shot on the fourth but falling back again at the seventh.
Colsaerts was one over for his round after four holes but then made three consecutive birdies from the second to get to nine under alongside Bjørn who had a single birdie on the card at the fourth.
Trevor Fisher Jnr and Søren Kjeldsen were then level par for the day at eight under with Jorge Campillo also in that group with three birdies and two bogeys.
Fleetwood registered eight straight pars after his disappointing start to sit at seven under with Alvaro Quiros, who was level par, and Chris Wood who had made gains at the 17th and second.
