BMW International Open. Matt Wallace Wins.

Matt Wallace of England wins the BMW International Open at Golf Club Gut Laerchenhof in Germany.

Matt Wallace / getty

Matt shot -7 under par 65 to win the BMW International Open with a -10 under tournament total, a one shot winning margin;

“Brilliant to win here in Germany, the BMW is such a great event and to play against the likes of Martin Kaymer and the guys at the top there, it’s great.”

“I work hard for this. I believe I can do it. I want to go further, I want to keep building on this.”

“Obviously this gives me a lot of confidence to go on and play well and I want to kick on and hopefully do this in the bigger events from now on.”

“This is great, this is a step in the right direction. We’ll keep working hard to bigger and better things.”

Three players tied in second place at -9 under par, German home hero Martin Kaymer, -4 under 68 today, Mikko Korhonen, Finland, -5 under 67, and Thorbjørn Olesen, Denmark with his brilliant last round -11 under par 61, the lowest round in BMW International Open history.

Thorbjørn spoke of his history making day;

“I felt like the first few days I played really great, especially the second day, I was striking the ball fantastic and gave myself so many chances.”

“I had a bad day yesterday. I had a bad hole at the start and obviously that was very disappointing because I felt like I was playing so good.”

“I was just trying today to go out there and build on my game, see if I could shoot a low score and get ready for next week.”

“Obviously as the round progressed I kept on thinking birdies and trying to make the round better. Finishing with four birdies was pretty nice.”

 Get In The HOLE, E-Book Putting Manual on Amazon 

BMW International Open. Six Way Sunday Shootout Tomorrow.

There will be a six way Sunday shootout for the BMW International Open tomorrow as Martin Kaymer and Maximilian Kieffer from Germany are joined at the top of the leaderboard by Lucas Bjerregaard, Denmark, Scott Hend, Australia, with  Chris Paisley and Aaron Rai of England.

Martin Kaymer / getty

What a dramatic day at Golf Club Gut Laerchenhof as Martin and Max carded -1 under 71, Aaron, -1, under 71, Chris -4 under 68, Scott, +1 over 73, and Lucas with his -5 under 67 were all tied at the top of the BMW International Open after 54 holes. with -5 under par totals.

Martin a two-time Major champion was happy to be leading at home;

“It’s always nice to be in contention, especially for me because it’s been a while but the last few weeks I’ve played very well.”

“In Italy I had a good chance but I didn’t really perform on the moving day.”

“Today I didn’t need to perform as good as I thought. On top of that, winning in your own country speaks for itself.”

Max likes being at home as well;

“It’s always nice to be in contention and it’s even more special to do it here so close to home, a home tournament, BMW tournament.”

Aaron is looking for his first European Tour win;

“It was a good steady round overall, conditions were a little easier today, there wasn’t as much wind so you could make a score a little more compared to the last couple of days but overall I was satisfied with how today went.”

Chris is comfortable with winning now;

“Now that I’ve won before I know I can do it, even before the win I believed I could do it but you don’t actually know until you’ve done it.”

Lucas is very happy;

“I’m very happy, I played really well, to be honest, it’s one of the best ball-striking rounds I’ve had in a very long time.”

Scott was happy to be where he is after a poor round, but thinks tomorrow will be a putting competition.”

“I’m very fortunate to be where I am.”

“You’ve still got to stay within your game plan and hopefully roll a few putts in.”

“We’ll see who rolls the most putts in tomorrow.”

 Get In The HOLE, E-Book Putting Manual on Amazon 

BMW International Open. Scott Hend Leads.

Scott Hend of Australia leads the BMW International Open after 36 holes at a still very windy Golf Club Gut Laerchenhof in Germany.

Scott Hend / getty

Scott carded a second round -5 under par 67 to lead the BMW International Open at the half-way stage with a -6 under par total;

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

“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 try to push for a birdie or whatever, 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.”

Tied in second place at -5 under are Nico Geyger, Chile, -3 under 69 today and Henric Sturehed, Sweden with his -2 under 70, both of these players are Qualifying School graduates.

Five  players are then tied in fourth place at -4 under including Aaron Rai, England, -1 under 71 today, but he did win a BMW i8 Roadster as he made a hole-in-one at the par thee 16th. Home favorites Martin Kaymer, -4  and Maximilian Kieffer, -3 with Sébastien Gros, France even par and  Nick Cullen, Australia, with his -4 under 68.

Aaron spoke about his Ace;

“It was a tricky pin position and it was kind of downwind as well.”.

“I actually wasn’t playing to get in pin-high, I was playing a little long then it pitched short, bounced perfectly and rolled up and went in.”

 

 Get In The HOLE, E-Book Putting Manual on Amazon 

BMW International Open. Sébastien Gros 1st Round Leader.

Sébastien Gros of France is the  1st round leader at the BMW International Open at a very windy Golf Club Gut Laerchenhof in Germany.

 

Sébastien Gros / getty

Sébastien shot a first round -4 under par 68 in brutal conditions to lead the BMW International Open by one shot.

Sébastien said despite the conditions his putter had been working well;

“Today was very special because the conditions were quite brutal.”

 “There was a lot of wind, sometimes a three-club wind, so it’s a good start.”

“It’s just Thursday so no need to start thinking about anything, it’s just a good round, and we’ll try to take enough confidence out of this round to keep going for the rest of the week.”

“If we got 72 holes with this wind, it could be our US Open just after the US Open.”

“You have to keep the ball in play and you have to be good on the greens, especially with the wind.”

“The putter has been working today, I just hope it will keep me smiling all week.”

Sharing second place with rounds of -3 under par 69 are Jorge Campillo, Spain, Scott Jamieson, Scotland, Aaron Rai, England and  Henric Sturehed of Sweden.

The defending champion, and local favorite Martin Kaymer was in the group at even par, one shot clear of Sergio Garcia and two ahead of World number ten Tommy Fleetwood, all three suffered in the wind at the U.S. Open last week, their hearts must have sunk at the sight of all that wind again.

 Get In The HOLE, E-Book Putting Manual on Amazon 

BMW International Open. Round Three Washed Out.

Round three of the BMW International Open was washed out in Germany, torrential rainfall closed the  Golf Club Gut Laerchenhof. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a little wet/ getty images

The second round leaders, Henrik Stenson, Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Raphaël Jacquelin will now have to play 36 holes tomorrow.

Henrik spoke about the long delays and of course the rain;

“We’ve got a pretty long day ahead of us tomorrow, but we’ll get it done eventually.”

“I think it’s been rather wet today,”It continues to be that way. We play an outdoor sport, you get these every now and again.”

“When it was a heavy downpour, there was a flood coming over the 18th and the putting green was completely underwater.”

“It’s not playable, and we’re just going to try to get all the golf done tomorrow instead.”

Tournament Director David Williams told reporters,

“Today in the last four or five hours, there’s been nearly 100ml of rainfall.”

“So it’s been pretty constant and on top of what’s already a pretty wet golf course.”

“We’ve been out to the third fairway a couple of hours ago and the entire fairway was unplayable. And even if it stopped, it would probably be a couple of hours before it would be anything like playable and the forecast is for it not to stop.”

“So we then decided we had to try and make some sort of solution for the good of the tournament.”

“This is going to continue until at least 7.00pm tonight. Hopefully after that, it’s going to start to peter out.”

“It should be relatively dry then through the night and into tomorrow.”

BMW International Open. Raphaël Jacquelin Round 1 Leader

Raphaël Jacquelin is the round 1 leader of the BMW International Open  at Golf Club Gut Laerchenhof in Germany.

Raphaël Jacquelin / Getty Images

 

 

 

 

Raphaël carded a 1st round -7 under par 65 to lead the BMW International Open by one shot in Germany.

He was naturally very pleased with his effort;

“I’m very pleased of course, as you can imagine.”

 “I played solid pretty much all day long. It was a bit tough at the end but I managed to save some good pars.”

“The wind was picking up again, so it was not easy at all.”

“I tried to stay focused on the game and the way I was hitting the ball and did pretty well and very happy for that and leading, t’s been a long time.”

“It’s a good feeling.”

“It’s been a long time, but it’s difficult. I’m still practicing hard and working hard on the game, and here we go, sometimes it pays.”

“I’m just going to try to do the same the rest of the week.”

In second place at -6 under par after his opening round of 66 is Oliver Fisher who was also pleased with his days work;

“The guys that hit the fairways and tee-to-green around here generally do pretty well.”

“Today that’s what I’ve done well, and a round of 66, I’m very pleased.”

“BMW are a great sponsor of the Tour and this is a great event, and I look forward to it every year, whether it be at Eichenried or here in Cologne.”

Sharing third place at -5 under par following their first rounds of 67 are  Zander Lombard, Thorbjørn Olesen and  Felipe Aguilar.