Pedro

Figueiredo

The 29-year-old showed signs of life with his first sub-par score in 11 competitive rounds over five starts this season last week in Gran Canaria. His only other sub-par round was a bogey-free, 4-under 67 in Round 1 of the Qatar Masters, his first start of the season. Qatar also was the only tournament in 2021 in which he’s made the cut, finishing T-50. Last season, Figueiredo made 10 cuts in 19 starts and recorded his career-best finish to date with a T-17 at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in November. He went 12-for-29 in 2019. Figueiredo graduated to the European Tour via the Challenge Tour in 2018, aided by his first professional victory at the KPMG Trophy.

The Portuguese golfer will head into the weekend at Green Eagle Golf Courses in Hamburg eight swings back of the leader Robert MacIntyre in a tie with five others. But given that he headed into this week 198th on the Race to Dubai he’ll be ecstatic. Indeed, in 43 starts at this level his best position at this stage was T22 in the 2011 Portugal Masters and he is still seeking a first top 20 of his European Tour career, a first top 30 of the season and in his 24th start of 2019 he’ll be pleased to be playing just his eighth weekend. He had gone bogey-free on Thursday and made two birdies (at the first and 13th). He again birdied those holes on Friday, adding another at the eighth. But he also had to square the fourth and 17th.