BROWN CHASING GOLD IN DUTCH SENIOR OPEN

 

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Simon P Brown stormed into a two-shot lead heading into the final day of the Dutch Senior Open thanks to a two under par second round of 71, as the Englishman chases a second European Senior Tour title of his rookie season.

In much more favourable conditions on moving day at The International, situated next to Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, Brown was the only one of three first round leaders to move in the right direction as he recovered from an early bogey to card three birdies en route to the outright lead on three under.

That left him two shots clear of Scotland’s Ross Drummond, as the 50 year old chases a second win in as many months after his breakthrough victory at the Russian Open Golf Championship (Senior) four weeks ago.

The Englishman’s playing partner and compatriot Paul Eales was effusive in his praise of Brown’s performance in the recording area afterwards, saying it was a “joy to watch”, and Brown himself was delighted with his all-round game.

“I’ve played really well over the last two days,” said Brown, who has been based in Germany since 1984. “Yesterday I hit the ball well and around the greens I was good. When I made a mistake I managed to recover really well.

“Today obviously we had no rain and I just hit the ball really nicely and kept it going. I didn’t really have any wobbles, it was just solid all the way around. I've pitched the ball well so that has helped a lot.”

Brown’s performance in closing out his maiden title in Russia last month resembled that of an experienced touring professional as opposed to a former club professional who earned his place on the 2013 Senior Tour through Qualifying School.

With the likes of European golf legend Colin Montgomerie and 25-time Senior Tour winner Carl Mason in chase, he holed a 25 foot putt at the penultimate hole in Moscow before almost holing out with his approach and leaving it stone dead for birdie at the last for a wire-to-wire victory. He is hoping that experience will stand him in good stead on championship Sunday in the Dutch capital.

“Of course I'm confident because I’m playing so well,” he said. “I'm hitting it really well and that helps so hopefully I’ll wake in the morning and be hitting it just the same.

“I think that experience will help. Obviously confidence is everything. That finish in Russia was extra-special though, those kinds of things don’t always happen. That shot at the last was probably the best shot of my career so it’s not likely to happen too often.”

Two shots back was Drummond, who carded one of the rounds of the day thanks to a four under par 69 over the testing lay-out, while José Manuel Carriles (71) of Spain, Englishman Eales (72) and France’s Marc Farry (74) were all still in with a shout on level par, three shots off the lead.

SECOND-ROUND TOTALS

Par 146 (2x73)

143 S Brown (Eng) 72 71,

145 R Drummond (Sco) 76 69,

146 M Farry (Fra) 72 74, P Eales (Eng) 74 72, J Carriles (Esp) 75 71,

147 P Jonas (Can) 75 72, P Golding (Eng) 73 74, P Wesselingh (Eng) 77 70, G Manson (Aut) 78 69, M Martin (Esp) 75 72,

148 G Emerson (Eng) 76 72, N Job (Eng) 72 76,

149 S Luna (Esp) 75 74, M Harwood (Aus) 78 71, P Mitchell (Eng) 75 74, H Buhrmann (RSA) 74 75, D O'Sullivan (Irl) 73 76,

150 T Price (Aus) 76 74, D Smyth (Irl) 77 73, B Cameron (Eng) 78 72, P Fowler (Aus) 78 72, S Tinning (Den) 73 77,

151 P Linhart (Esp) 76 75, C Williams (RSA) 75 76, K Spurgeon (Eng) 78 73, A Sherborne (Eng) 78 73,

152 J Quiros (Esp) 73 79, B Longmuir (Sco) 78 74, C Rocca (Ita) 74 78, T Thelen (USA) 74 78, A Oldcorn (Sco) 76 76, S Van Vuuren (RSA) 73 79,

153 A Franco (Par) 77 76, M McLean (Eng) 78 75, P Curry (Eng) 78 75, R Thompson (USA) 80 73, M Cunning (USA) 77 76, S Torrance (Sco) 80 73,

154 P Walton (Irl) 79 75, M James (Eng) 79 75, G Ralph (Eng) 79 75,

155 M Piñero (Esp) 78 77, A Saddington (Sco) 80 75,

156 R Gibson (Can) 77 79, D James (Sco) 79 77, G Ryall (Eng) 85 71, L Carbonetti (Arg) 79 77, G Brand (Eng) 79 77,

157 G Banister (Aus) 77 80,

158 D Hospital (Esp) 78 80, G Wolstenholme (Eng) 78 80, G Brand Jnr (Sco) 84 74,

159 J Harrison (Eng) 77 82,

161 J Bruner (USA) 85 76,

166 M Bembridge (Eng) 83 83,

167 B Gee (Ned) 89 78, P Way (Eng) 92 75,

168 D Durnian (Eng) 83 85,

179 A Garrido (Esp) 91 88,

182 M Metgod (Ned) 90 92,

 

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