Mark Brown will not remember the seventh hole at the Oceanico Victoria Golf Course in Portugal with fondness. He managed to play the hole six over par in two rounds, yet still finished one-under par in two rounds, three shots outside the cut. Brown has shown a promising return to birdie form and is taking a week’s break in Ascot before a blitz on three Asian tournaments: the Barclays Singapore Open, the HSBC Champions in Shanghai and the Hong Kong Open. Click here for full scores from Portugal.

Mark Brown has shot an even par 72 on the first day of the Portugal Masters near Faro. On the face of it this is a reasonable score but closer inspection is encouraging yet demoralising for Brown. He hit 17 greens in regulation but also made tripe bogey on the par four seventh and had 35 putts! Mark will be disappointed with this on a day that scoring was low. The leader Francesco Molinari of Italy is nine under par and Mark currently sits in a tie for 90th place. Click here for full scores.