Birdie blitz for Brier

Home favourite Markus Brier began where he left off yesterday with four birdies in his second round to move to 10 under in the BA-CA Austrian Open.

Brier, from nearby Vienna, started the day on the back nine and picked up his first shot at the 396-yard 12th and then birdied the par-four 16th.

He produced a great escape from a bunker to birdie the 545-yard last and hit a short iron to three feet on the first hole – his 10th – to reach double figures.

But Simon Dyson and Gary Emerson, playing in the group ahead, ensured it was not easy going for the Austrian with the latter particularly impressive after dropping a shot at his first hole.

Back-to-back birdies at 12 and 13 were repeated at 15 and 16 before he capped an outward nine of 31 with an eagle at the par-five 18th after rolling in an 18-foot putt.

He then produced another superb short-iron approach to two feet at the first to move to seven under.

Dyson, who started the day five under, birdied the 547-yard 15th and then splashed out of a greenside bunker at 18 to leave himself a two-and-a-half-foot put for birdie.

Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, playing with Brier, bogeyed the 14th but birdies at the short 17th and 18th – where he had a 12-foot eagle putt – lifted him to five under and when he sank an eight-footer on the first he moved to six under.

That was the mark also reached by David Griffiths, who began the day two under.

He bogeyed the 10th – his first – but then had three birdies in a row with two more at six and seven.