European Tour

BMW International Open 2018

June 21-24

Golfclub München Eichenried, Germany

€2,000,000

June 21-24

Golfclub München Eichenried, Germany

€2,000,000

Round 2

Hend makes most of windy conditions to take BMW lead

Round 1

Round 3

Round 4

Round 1

Round 3

Round 4

June 22, 2018

Scott Hend fired a sensational 67 in more windy conditions at Golf Club Gut Laerchenhof to take a one-shot lead into the weekend at the BMW International Open.

- Getty Images

“It's just patience. When it's this windy, if you're not patient you're going to get smashed. It’s as simple as that. If you can laugh it off, what will be will be, and just play. If you try to push for a birdie, if you hit it in the rough and make a bogey it's great, if you get less than a bogey then it's a bonus. It's just one of those golf courses that is quite punishing.``

“I just played conservatively. Just trying to play on to the fairways and keep out of the long brown stuff.

“Last time I was here I played horrendously. I just came here with the attitude this week to just find the golf ball first off, get it on the green and hopefully hole some putts and have a fresh approach.”

The Australian is a two-time winner on the European Tour and sits at the top of a congested leaderboard after recording the joint-lowest round of the week to get to six under par, a shot clear of Qualifying School graduates Nico Geyger of Chile and Sweden’s Henric Sturehed.

Two-time Major winner and local favourite Martin Kaymer shot a 68 to delight the home fans with his move up the leaderboard and sit at four under par alongside his countryman Maximilian Kieffer, Englishman Aaron Rai, overnight leader Sébastien Gros of France and Australia's Nick Cullen.

“I played very solid,`` said Kaymer, ``I think I hit the ball better than yesterday. I was in control of the ball flight, of the trajectory, which you really need in the wind.``

“This morning I found a little something on the range, I got a little bit closer to the ball, that helped me today, a lot. I created chances, made a couple of long putts early in the round. 68 is a good round today.``

“A lot of people I'm sure they came out after work to support us. It was nice that Max (Kieffer) was in front of me, they didn't need to walk far to see both of us. I don't know about the other German players, if we were the only ones to make the cut, but if we play together it would be fantastic.”

Rai was celebrating earlier in the round as he won a BMW i8 Roadster for a hole-in-one on the 16th – his seventh hole – as he briefly held the solo lead, but he double-bogeyed the fifth and dropped another shot on the sixth to fall back.

“Not a bad prize, eh? It was funny, on the actual shot we were trying to play it for five or six yards past the pin. I probably shouldn’t admit that, so it was a little bit fortunate to go in.``

“Once it went in it was an awesome feeling, but a little bit in shock as well. It doesn’t quite sink in until after the round. You have so many more holes to play after that, you can’t really get too far ahead of yourself. Incredible to do that. It was awesome, I certainly did have a big grin on my face.``

Danish pair Thorbjørn Olesen and Søren Kjeldsen are at three under after rounds of 68 and 69 respectively, a shot clear of Christofer Blomstrand, Mark Foster, Wade Ormsby, Thomas Pieters and Matt Wallace.