In the second round of the Johnnie Walker Championship Markus Brier scores with a great short game 71 (-1) and improves up to rank 44. The field in Scotland is very tight, so that a long awaited top ranking is possible.
After seven missed cuts in a row, Mar-kus Brier makes the cut at the first of the four important tournaments in the coming weeks. As currently 144th in the Race to Dubai, he urgently needs prize money to keep his tour ticket. In round 1 at the designer course Brier convinces with strong drives. In round 2 he gets a round under par with excellent chips.
“My long game was not so solid today. But it went really well around the greens,” Brier is pleased. The weaker driving opens up less feasible shots into the greens – Brier hits only 9 greens in regulation. In return, he avoids high scores with many strong up&downs and can also work out some birdie chances with the wedges – a total of three birdies fall. “Unfortunately, I have had a lot of opportunities to practice chipping in the past tournaments. It’s never been about the short game,” explains Brier.
Starting from hole 11, the 44-year-old Viennese player holes a par on the backnine after the next hole. On the 18 (par 5, 469 m), the first stroke is won with a chip on one meter to the target. After an aggressive green attack on hole 1 (par 4, 390 m) an extremely difficult downhill chip remains, leading to the first bogey. Immediately afterwards, on hole 2 (par 5, 472 m), after another good chip, he safely converts the short birdie putt. On hole 5 (par 4, 422 m) the putt falls from 8 meters to the birdie. The bogey on hole 7 (par 4, 428 m) passes with one of the few really weak tees.
“In the end, it started to rain and on the last holes, luckily, two difficult two putts to par from about 10 meters each were successful,” says Brier. With challenging conditions in the afternoon, there is no danger that Brier, who is currently 44th, will fall out of the prize money ranks: “The field is densely packed and with two more rounds under par it can go up quickly,” Brier sets the course.
In the morning Mark Foster (ENG) takes the lead at -8, one stroke ahead of Brett Rumford (AUS) and Paul Lawrie (SCO). The second half of the peloton is still on the move, the placements may still change. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
