Portugal Open 2017: Play Suspended as Red-Hot Matt Wallace Holds 5-Shot Lead

Following Thursday's weather-shortened opening to the 2017 Portugal Open at Morgado Golf Resort, Matt Wallace sits in the lead at 16 under through 12 holes after action stopped in the evening because of darkness.        

Since there were players who still had to finish their first round, they had to squeeze in a lot of golf Friday before night set in. A total of 78 golfers were able to get through all 36 holes, leaving the rest of the field to play catch-up when play resumes at 8 a.m. local time Saturday. 

Here's what the leaderboard looks like after Friday's action:

Position	Player	To Par	Round 2 Score
1	Matt Wallace	-16	-6 (12)
2	Sebastian Heisele	-11	-2 (12)
T3	Matthieu Pavon	-9	-4 (69)
T3	Ashley Chesters	-9	-2 (71)
T3	Erik van Rooyen	-9	-4 (12)
T3	Jamie Rutherford	-9	-3 (6)
T7	Laurie Canter	-8	-5 (68)
T7	Jose-Filipe Lima	-8	-2 (71)
T7	Robert Rock	-8	-4 (69)
T7	Trevor Fisher Jr.	-8	-4 (69)
T7	Pedro Oriol	-8	-3 (70)
T7	Christian Braeunig	-8	-3 (15)
T7	Julian Suri	-8	-2 (12)
T7	Grant Forrest	-8	-5 (12)

Full leaderboard available at EuropeanTour.com.

Wallace, who came out of the gate red-hot with a 10-under 63, is showing no signs of slowing down. The England native has been nearly perfect in this tournament with 16 birdies and zero bogeys, giving him a five-shot cushion. 

Even before Wallace kept dropping his score lower, the Challenge Tour had fun with his dominance over the rest of the field on Twitter:

This is just Wallace's third event of 2017 on the European and Challenge Tour. He had mixed results in the first two, finishing tied for third at the Kenya Open and tied for 25th at the Turkish Airlines Challenge, and he gave no indication he was going to unleash this performance. 

Sebastian Heisele is doing his best to stay in Wallace's rearview mirror at five shots back. He was one shot off the lead after the first round with a 64 that included one eagle and nine birdies and didn't perform poorly through 12 holes in the second round, shooting two-under par before officials called play.

Behind Wallace and Heisele, Ashley Chesters and Matthieu Pavon posted the lowest scores among players who finished 36 holes. Pavon has been consistent through two rounds, shooting a 69 after opening with a 68. 

Chesters was more erratic Friday with a 71 that included four bogeys, though he salvaged things thanks in large part to an eagle on the par-five 13th hole. 

Among the players who were able to complete the second round, Sebastian Soderberg had the lowest score with a 67. It helped him jump 91 spots on the leaderboard into a tie for 40th at six under par. 

Despite the best efforts from the rest of the field, Wallace is in complete control of his game and the tournament. He still has a long way to go, but it will take a lot of things going right for the rest of the field and wrong for him for Wallace not to walk away from the Portugal Open with a victory.