As Fridays go on the DP World Tour, from an Irish perspective, they don’t get much worse than today at the BMW International Open at Golfclub München Eichenried.
Having opened with a four-under 68 in round one, Tom McKibbin’s first start since capturing his maiden Tour title was off to an ideal start, but a tough start to his second round was exacerbated on the back nine, culminating in a septuple bogey at the par-4 17th, and he’d eventually sign for an 11-over round that dropped him to +7 and well outside the cutline.
John Murphy’s struggles continued in round two, as he followed up an opening 10-over with a nine-over in round two to complete an extremely disappointing day for the Irish.
Daniel Hillier, who graduated from the European Challenge Tour last year, posted a sublime five under par round of 67 to grasp the 36-hole lead
The Kiwi carded a blemish-free second round to reach nine under par and set the pace at the top of the leaderboard, one shot clear of Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, who is making his DP World Tour debut this week.
Hillier made the turn at two under par after teeing off the tenth but caught fire as he headed for home, reeling off a trio of birdies from the sixth to set what proved to be an unassailable target.
“Pretty tough conditions out there,” Hillier said afterwards. “Breeze is definitely up and making it tricky. Pretty swirling winds as well. But yeah, played really solid front nine. There were a couple of lucky ones coming in and managed to go round bogey free which was pretty good.
“I mean I think it helps when you come from Wellington, playing in the wind all your life. Then you have to navigate your way around it. As I say, got lucky couple of times coming in.
“It’s great golf course. I think it says my game crowds have been pretty awesome as well from obviously I mean, I’ve been to the marquee great. But you know so yeah, I feel the German guys have got a lot of spectators there watching them.
“Hopefully being one of the final groups tomorrow, we’ll get some more people watching and should be a fun couple of days.”
Neergaard-Petersen graduated from Oklahoma State University last month and is impressing after receiving a late invitation to this week’s event at Golfclub München Eichenried. The 23-year-old lies second after posting a round of 67, one stroke clear of Joost Luiten, from the Netherlands.
The Dutchman, who has made his last ten consecutive cuts, made the seventh hole-in-one of his career on his way to posting a six under par 66, the low round of the day.
Marc Hammer and Marcel Schneider are the leading German players after round two, sharing fourth place alongside South Africa’s Jayden Schaper, Frenchman Adrien Saddier and Finn Sami Välimäki on six under par.
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