Austria’s Markus Brier overcame some devilish cross winds at Oitavos Golfe, Quinta da Marinha, Portugal, to open up a two shot clubhouse lead with an outstanding round of six under par 65 at the Estoril Open de Portugal Caixa Geral de Depositos.
Brier’s 65 was good enough to open up a two shot lead over England’s Neil Cheetham, South African Titch Moore, Stephen Scahill of New Zealand and Denmark’s Mads Vibe-Hastrup.
The 36 year old Austrian played some brilliant golf to set the clubhouse target of six under, producing some exceptional long and mid irons en route to his 65. Brier produced three particularly exceptional shots, the first of which came after his only bogey of the day on the fifth. After a good drive on the sixth, Brier proceeded to knock a six iron to just five feet and begin a run of three successive birdies.
He picked up his next shot with the best strike of the day on the tenth – a sublime five iron that came to rest just five inches from the cup. Another birdie at the eleventh put Brier on four under par, and he made three straight pars before another world class strike set him up for another tap in birdie on the 15th. This time it was his four iron that did the damage, leaving himself just a two foot putt to move to five under. He picked up his last birdie of the day on the 16th to take the first round lead.
Brier accredited the work he was able to do with his coach, Claude Grenier, at his home course of Fontana Golf Club in Austria last week. It was the first chance Brier had to work on his game at home this year, given the harsh Austrian winter that meant his home club only opened for the new season last week.
He said: “I thought that it wasn’t playing too easy today but I managed to keep the ball in play and hit a few really good irons were I left it stiff. I just made one bogey, the rest was solid and when I had chances I made them.
“Last week was the first chance this year that I have had to spend time with my coach because the courses only opened last week in Austria. We worked a little bit on the swing which is getting better. I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly but the feeling and contact have been getting a lot better and that was another reason why I hit it so well today.”
Cheetham’s iron play was also out of this world, as the Englishman posted an opening 67 that included a career first of three eagles in the same round, all three were by virtue of outstanding approach shots to the green. He knocked a six iron to 12 feet on the seventh, followed by an excellent three iron to ten feet on the eighth. His third eagle of the round saw him put a four iron to just eight feet on the 13th to join Moore, Scahill and Vib-Hastrup in a tie for second place.
There are another four players a further shot back – former Ryder Cup player Paul Broadhurst of England, the 2005 Volvo China Open Champion Stephen Dodd of Wales, the 2004 Daily Telegraph Damovo British Masters Champion, Barry Lane of England, as well as the 1996 Chemapol Trophy Czech Open winner, England’s Jonathan Lomas.
