Calum Hill has Austrian Open leader 'Beef' Johnston in his sights
Scot joined by three of his compatriots in progressing to final two rounds in Kitzbühel
Two late bogeys took the wind out of Calum Hill’s sails after he stormed to the top of the leaderboard in the second round of the Austrian Open presented by Kitzbühel Tirol.
But, after a low-scoring first two days at Golfclub Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith, the Scot was still pleased to be sitting just one shot off the lead, held by England’s Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston.
After former Scottish Challenge winner Johnston had fired a morning 62 to set the clubhouse target on 11 under, Hill followed five birdies in the first eight holes with an eagle at the nine to turn in 29.
Having moved to 12 under, the 31-year-old was still leading on his own with three holes to play only to take a little shine off his day’s work after back-to-back bogeys at the 16th and 17th.
“I played really nice,” said Hill, who, after opening with back-to-back 65s, is chasing a second win on Austrian soil after landing one of his three HotelPlanner Tour triumphs in the 2019 Euram Bank Open at Adamstal Golf Club in 2019.
“Yeah, I lost a couple of shots coming in there - the back nine provides a trickier test, particularly the finishing stretch, which is strong - but five under is a good day.”
Johnston, who is bidding to add to a solo DP World Tour success more than a decade ago, moved into pole position after an eight-birdie salvo, though, to the delight of the home fans, star attraction Sepp Straka is well-placed on seven under.
Marc Warren makes cut in milestone event
In his 500th event on the circuit, Marc Warren carded nine birdies to make the cut on four under, with Grant Forrest (six under), Ewen Ferguson (five under) and Cameron Adam (three under) also progressing to the weekend.
In the amateur ranks, four players - England’s Josh Rudkin and Will Coxon, Dane Vads Viemose Larsen and South African Judd Sunderlson - share the after the first round of the Scottish Men’s Open at Gailes Links.
On a day when less than 20 players broke par in a testing wind at the Ayrshire venue, the quartet carded matching three-under-par 68s.
Pride of place among the Scottish contingent went to teenagers Fraser Walters (Blairgowrie) and Kai Laing (Broomieknowe) as they both signed for 69s. Portlethen’s Ben Murray and local man Calum Nairn (Prestwick St Cuthbert) sit one behind their two compatriots.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.