Sarah promoted into starting field

Shropshire golfer Sarah Heath hopes to take advantage of being in the right place at the right time this weekend.The Telford professional was in Portugal earlier this week to play in a charity pro-am.

That left her perfectly placed to take advantage of being promoted from the reserve list and into the starting field for the Portugal Ladies Open, the European Tour event at Quinta de Cima on the eastern Algarve.

"I would have spent the week practicing in Portugal anyway but to get in the tournament is a huge bonus," said the 26-year-old, who was due to tee off at 1.20pm in today's first round.

Heath is bidding to get back on the main tour after losing her card last year. And she continued her good start on the feeder SAS Masters Tour with a 14th place finish in the IT-Arkitekterna Ladies Open in Sweden last week, rounds of 74, 77 and 75 leaving her seven shots adrift of eventual winner Catrin Nilsmark.

Heath is lying sixth in the order of merit after two events, with the top two at the end of the summer regaining their card on the main tour.