Merrick

Bremner

Back in 2016 Bremner enjoyed his week at this course, carding 71-70-66-69 to cruise through the field and claim T8. Three years later he played at Anahita, just a second start in the tournament, and was T7 at halfway after laps of 68-68 but he finished 82-73 for T63. He has managed just four top tens in 67 European Tour starts (most of the latter figure at home on the Sunshine Tour), but he hasn’t had one since he was T3 in the 2014 Czech Masters. Moreover, he has no top 50 in his last 17 starts on the ET. He won on the Sunshine Tour in September but shot 76-76 last week at Leopard Creek.

After a 68 on the West, Bremner came out hot in round two with birdies at both his opening holes. He gave them straight back with a double bogey-6 at 3 but connected four more red numbers from Nos. 5-8. The rollercoaster continued with a bogey at 9 followed by another birdie at 10 before he dropped another shot at 13. However, Bremner splashed red at 15 and 18 to arrive 8-under 135 and complete a fine day’s work. The 30-year-old has never finished better than T50 in nine starts at this event so has a great chance to write some new history on the weekend.

The South African, who splits his time between the European and Challenge Tours, finished three shots behind winner Jamie Donaldson 12 months ago after shooting under par in all four rounds at the Prague venue. He’s struggling at 182nd on the Race To Dubai this season after just a single top 10 -- a T8 at the Mauritius Open in May. He made the cut in last week’s Made In Denmark, shooting a third-round 66, so will hope he can build on that and thrive in the Czech Republic for the second year running.

The South African is just 1-for-4 this season and only finished T71 when finally making the final 36 holes in last week’s Africa Open. But he found some rhythm at Pretoria CC on Thursday, circling seven birdies to finish two off the lead. His par breakers came at 2, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12 and 15 while he squared bogeys at 4 and 10. Bremner does have past experience at Pretoria although he’d never previously bettered T31 in seven Sunshine Tour events at the course. Today’s 65 was his best score by two on the par 70.

After a mixed round of three birdies and three bogeys, Bremner sprouted wings and circled par breakers on four of his final six holes to leap to 9-under 131 after 36 holes. That’s currently just two behind leader Adrian Otaegui. Looking at his card, the young South African was particularly strong on the short holes and posted birdie-2s at 16, 5 and 8. The latter pair, along with gains at 4 and 9, formed part of the hot finish which puts him firmly in the mix for the weekend.

The new event is co-sanctioned by the European, Asian and Sunshine Tours and its location in the Indian Ocean means Bremner has only to make a short flight from his South African base. Bremner was T10 in the Sunshine Tour’s Zambia Open on his last start and T21 in the Zimbabwe Open before that. His most recent appearance on the European Tour also came in Africa when he finished T15 in the Tshwane Open after sitting second at halfway via a 65-66 start.

The par 72 hosts the local Sunshine Tour’s BMG Classic and Bremner shot 12-under in the 2014 edition to beat fellow South African Darren Fichardt by a shot. He was also runner-up in the 2012 BMG and fourth in 2013. This is obviously a step up with plenty of European Tour regulars in opposition this time but Bremner did post T17 when the course staged the South African Open two seasons ago. The 29-year-old has contested 55 European Tour events (mostly co-sanctioned) since 2007, cashing 24 times and recording four top 10s.

We’ve seen the youngster pop up on leaderboards before, especially in co-sanctioned events, although his best is T3 in the 2014 D+D REAL Czech Masters. That same season, Bremner was ninth in this tournament when it was held at Copperleaf. He also showed up well at this week’s venue, Pretoria CC, last year when T15 so it’s no surprise to see the 29-year-old making an impression. Today, he circled birdies at 10, 12, 14, 18, 3 and 9 although his charge was kept in check by bogeys at 11, 1 and 4. Right now, he’s in solo fourth, four shots behind countryman Justin Harding.