Austria’s Markus Brier continued to delight his adoring public at the BA-CA Golf Open presented by Telekom Austria after a second round of four under par 67 round his home course, the outstanding Fontana Golf Club, kept him at the top of leaderboard alongside Englishman Simon Dyson on ten under par 132.
Aside from a nasty double bogey sixth on the second hole – Brier’s 11th of the day – Austria’s Number One continued his brilliant first round form to stay at the head of the field. He was joined by Dyson, whose second consecutive 66 was another of many fine displays during the second round.
The best of them all came from Dyson’s playing partner and countryman, Gary Emerson, as well as Australia’s Peter Senior, as both men set a new course record for the new lay-out at Fontana, after a pair of sparkling 64s. Senior moved to six under par for the tournament as a result of his exemplary second round, while Emerson moved even closer to Brier and Dyson – to eight under.
Joining Emerson on eight under is Ryder Cup star Miguel Angel Jiménez of Spain, who made a significant climb into serious contention with a great eagle three at the par five ninth, his last hole of the day.
Colin Montgomerie of Scotland, like Jiménez, one of the star names in the field, produced a charging finish of three birdies in his closing four holes to move from the middle of the chasing pack to seven under, alongside England’s David Griffiths, Denmark’s Søren Hansen, Ireland’s David Higgins and Steven Jeppesen of Sweden.
For Brier, it was another magical day in front of the huge crowds following himself, Jiménez and Denmark’s Thomas Björn, while Dyson cannot wait to play alongside the Austrian hero in Saturday’s last match.
Brier said: “I just had the one hiccup with the double bogey but apart form that I played well again. The hole in one was the only thing that was missing but apart from that it was pretty similar. I’m happy – I came back from the double bogey and that has given me some confidence for tomorrow.
“I hope I can keep this up for another two rounds. I am okay today. I didn’t feel too much pressure so I hope I can do another good round tomorrow and get in contention for Sunday afternoon. Maybe it’s my week – I hope so.”
Dyson is thriving on The European Tour this season. The 28 year old secured his maiden Tour win at the Enjoy Jakarta HSBC Indonesia Open and is currently 25th on the Order of Merit.
“I think I have become more confident since winning. Well, you certainly go for more pins and things like that. I think that’s because I am having a good season and I have the exemption and everything. When you are striking the ball that well you start taking on pins you might not have before. There was a tough pin at the second today and I just thought I’d go straight at it and I knocked it to ten feet.
“It’ll be great to be out in the final group with Markus tomorrow. I love playing in front of a big crowd, and the galleries following Markus have been awesome.”
