Darren Fichardt backed up his opening round of 68 at the BMW International Open with a 69 on Friday morning to share fourth place on seven-under-par.
‘They’ve had quite a bit of rain here and the greens are pretty soft, so it’s set up for scoring. I’m happy to be in the position that I’m in,’ he said.
The 41-year-old began his second round in solid fashion, picking up a birdie in his first four holes. He then dropped a shot at the par-four fifth before turning at level-par for the day.
The 14-time Sunshine Tour winner started his back nine in blistering fashion at the Golf Club Gut Laerchenhof. He birdied the 10th, 12th and 13th, before sinking another one at the par-five 15th.
‘I’ve got a lot more feel in my game. You tend to get very technical in this game and I’m glad that I’m playing a bit more creatively,’ said the four-time European Tour winner.
‘I really enjoyed my second shot into the 10th. I was in between clubs and managed to hit a high draw with my pitching wedge that spun back,’ he added.
At one stage Fichardt was eight-under-par and tied for third place, but two poor putts on the 18th saw him drop back to seven-under-par, four shots off joint leaders Raphael Jacquelin and Henrik Stenson.
Fichardt has ended his run of two missed cuts in his last two starts and will be hoping to repeat the top-10 performance he achieved back in 2013.
‘I had a few slips out there, but I’m very happy with seven-under. The whole game is feeling pretty good, so let’s see where it gets me,’ he said.
