FP – Joel Sjoholm twice chipped in for eagle for a six-under-par 66 on Friday to lead by two strokes at the BMW International Open, as Australian first-round co-leader Marcus Fraser slipped down the leaderboard at the halfway mark.
The 27-year-old Chilean-born player, who was adopted by a Swedish couple when he was three months old, had already caught the eye with his knickerbockers and colourful attire, and his eagles at No.7 and No.12 were even more attention-grabbing.
“This is the first time as a pro I’ve been in the lead, and I’m just enjoying it so much,” said Sjoholm, who has two top-10 finishes in 2012 after joining the European Tour last year.
“It’s a great feeling to be leading and in a great tournament. I’ve always enjoyed playing in Germany.”
Former Ryder Cup player Paul McGinley, looking to end a seven-year winless run, shot a 70 to share second place with English pair Chris Wood and Danny Willett, and Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti.
Zanotti had shared the first-round lead with Marcus Fraser, but managed only a 71 while the Australian fell five behind with a 74.
After hitting a 65 on Thursday, McGinley’s lowest first-round score in seven years, the Irishman’s 36-hole starting tally is his best in two years.
“It was much tougher today with the wind, and a good test of golf,” he said. “But the new technology in the game now is just helping my game so much such as the last hole where I was able to chop a rescue club out of the rough and get it to the side of the green, and try and get up-and-down.
“In the past, I would be hitting five iron and there’s no way I would have got it anywhere near the green.”
Andrew Marshall hit a hole-in-one at No.17 to win a BMW 6 Series coupe. It was the Englishman’s first ace on the Tour in more than 220 events since joining in 2001.
“The shot was pure blind luck because I got the yardage wrong yesterday and after ‘Miko’ (Sweden’s Mikael Lundberg) went long, I changed clubs,” Marshall said. “I thought I hit it too well but then everyone went bananas. It was into the sun and I didn’t see it but the roar was awesome.”
Germany’s Martin Kaymer (73), the 2010 PGA winner and highest-ranked player in the field, plus former Ryder Cup player Paul Casey of England (74) and two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen (75) all missed the cut.
