Sam

Brazel

The 2016 Hong Kong Open winner badly needs some Race to Dubai points as he dwells a lowly 159th in the rankings and the cause is simple to see. He was T16 in the Oman Open (possibly a pointer to this week; it might have been hot but it was vaguely links-like), but since then he is only 2-for-14 and the weekends have reaped little reward: T35 in the Open de France and T28 at the KLM Open. His links golf this season saw him miss the cut by miles in both Ballyliffin and Gullane and he also failed to progress to Sunday when debuting here 12 months ago (71-77-75).

The 38-year-old Australian, a four year veteran of the Asian Tour, has limited experience of co-sanctioned European Tour events, but did post T15 in last week’s Australian PGA Championship - his second best effort in such tournaments (top was his T11 in the 2016 Thailand Classic). He opened with a bogey at the first but wasted little time turning his day around, marking a birdie at the par-three second. The real excitement came just before the turn when he ticked a hat-trick of par-breakers at 6, 7 and 8. Two more came on the back nine, at 10 and 13, with a bogey in between at the 11th. This is his third appearance at Hong Kong GC; he missed the cut in 2014, but finished T18 12 months ago, breaking 70 four times.

The 38-year-old Australian finds himself in thin air this week, having never before contended for a title at European Tour level. In fact, he’s had the odd good first round, but his previous best at the 36-hole stage on any main tour was the T3 he found himself in during this year’s Myanmar Open, where he ended the tournament T15. He started Friday on the back nine and was on fire early, posting birdie-2 at the 12th and eagle-3 at the 13th. He gave a shot back at the 15th but pinched it back just two holes later. The front nine witnessed two par breakers at 5 and 6, with a dropped shot at the 9th. He’s three behind the leader Rafa Cabrera-Bello.

Three back of his Spanish playing partner at start of play, the 38-year-old Aussie posted four birdies against a single bogey to arrive at 11-under 199. Brazel and RCB are two in front of Tommy Fleetwood (-9), with David Lipsky (-8) alone in fourth. A bogey at the first proved his only blemish and he balanced the books with a circle at 5. As Cabrera-Bello wobbled on the back nine, Brazel picked up shots at 11, 13 and 16 to end the day tied at the top and in position to post a win in just his 17th European Tour start. “It would mean the world,” he said. “But there’s 18 holes to go and I’m just going to approach it one shot at a time and try and enjoy the moment. Just learn from the experience. I started a little nervous on the first but I guess that’s the situation you’re in. I felt the nerves a little bit at lunch time and just sort of grounded it out and it was fun out there.”

Tied for the lead with RCB at start of play, Brazel struggled early with bogeys at 6 and 9 but birdied four of the final eight holes to post the winning number of 13-under 267. His charge started with three straight circles from Nos. 11-13, the latter after holing from 30 feet. At one stage, six players were tied for the lead on the back nine but Brazel defied his world ranking of 480 to be last man standing after completing victory with an eight-foot birdie at the final hole. Spain’s Cabera-Bello finished one back on 12-under, with Aussie Andrew Dodt and England’s Tommy Fleetwood tied for third on 11-under. Brazel was playing in just his 17th European Tour event although there were a couple of clues; he teed it up in this event in 2015 and posted T18 while he arrived in Hong Kong after T15 in last week’s Australian PGA Championship. “I was very lucky. That wasn’t the greatest second shot in there but it ended up good and the rest is history,” he said of his approach to 18.

That’s just three swings behind leader Marc Warren. The Aussie also started with a 66 when gaining an unexpected first European Tour win in Hong Kong in December so the omens are good. Today he drenched his scorecard in a sea of red, making birdie at nine of Saujana G&CC’s 18 holes. He opened his account at No. 1 before giving it back at 2. After failing to birdie the par-5 3rd, Brazel then ticked 4, 5, 6 and 8 to turn in 32. He lost momentum on the second nine with two bogeys and a birdie in the first six holes but turned a decent day into a very good one with circles at 16, 17 and 18. The idea that he might be a one-hit wonder is looking ill-judged on this evidence.

The Australian caused a major surprise when winning the Hong Kong Open before Christmas and if the tree-lined fairways, small greens and humid conditions suited him there, they appear to be repeating the trick this week. The round was a lot less chaotic than his first lap of 66; having posted just six pars on Thursday, he scratched 15 of them Friday. Starting from the 10th he made birdie at 11 and bogey at 14. The front nine saw a sole red number at the 5th (for the second day running). He’ll rue one mistake: he hit a fine pitch beyond the pin, using the slope to draw it back to the hole but had not requested for a partner’s ball to be marked and it stopped his exquisite shot dropping. On the live leaderboard he trailed Marc Warren by four as he took lunch.

The 38-year-old got into the field from his position in this year’s Race to Dubai ranking. He entered the week slotted 6th, buoyed by his first professional win at the dual-sanctioned UBS Hong Kong Open back in December. The Aussie won in his 17th career start on the European Tour, eclipsing a previous-best T15 at the 2016 Australian PGA Championship, and accepted a two-year exemption on the Euro Tour. He posted rounds of 75-68-70-75 in what is sure to be a memorable week.

That HK victory was easily the career highlight for the 38-year-old Aussie but he’s played some decent golf since, cashing in six of the seven tournaments he’s played in 2017. That run includes T12 at the Maybank Championship in Malaysia so he certainly is one to keep an eye on when the European Tour heads to Asia. He also pegged it up in last week’s Shenzhen International in China, starting slowly but carding 69-71 over the final 36 holes to take T51.