New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier produced a bogey-free 67 on a windy day two of the BMW International Open to take a one-shot lead at 9-under.
“Pretty tough conditions out there. Breeze is definitely up and making it tricky. Pretty swirling winds as well.
“I 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 think it helps when you come from Wellington, playing in the wind all your life. Then you have to navigate your way around it.”
Hillier has only made three cuts in his last nine starts on the DP World Tour but one of them resulted in a tie for sixth at the KLM Open.
“I need to stay patient coming down the stretch,” he said. “I was pretty good at KLM, maybe one or two birdies more and I think I bogeyed 16 or 15 and that kind of took me out of it, unfortunately.
“If I’m in that situation again, just make sure I stick to my gameplan, don’t try and think too much. And if the results come my way, then I’m really pleased.”
Danish invite Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen also scored a 67 to move into second place followed in third at 7-under by the Netherlands’ Jost Luiten.
Germany’s Marcel Schneider (70) and Marc Hammer (71) share fourth place at 6-under with France’s Adrien Saddier (72), South Africa’s Jayden Schaper (70) and Finland’s Sami Välimäki (69).
