Brier wins on home soil
Markus Brier delighted his home crowd with a wire-to-wire -18 victory in the BA-CA Austrian Open for his maiden European Tour title.
Ireland's Gary Murphy finished best of the Irish in fifth place on -10.
Thirty-seven-year-old Brier, from nearby Vienna, led from day one and despite an early wobble on the final day closed out a three-stroke win over Denmark’s Soren Hansen.
Brier began the day one ahead of England’s Simon Dyson but bogeyed the second and third holes to drop back to 13 under.
That allowed Colin Montgomerie to move into contention after three successive birdies from the second lifted him to 12 under.
However, the Scot’s challenge fizzled out after he had a run of two double bogeys and three bogeys from the 11th to close on five under in a tie for 13th.
Hansen had four birdies either side of the turn, having had his first at the fifth, and that earned him a share of the lead at 14 under but when Brier birdied 11, 13 and 15 and the Dane handed back the shot he earned at 15 at the very next hole, the race was run.
Brier finished in style with a birdie at the last for a round of 68 and an 18-under-par total of 266.
Dyson, after dropping a shot at the third, could not find a foothold anywhere and he had 12 straight pars coming home before a birdie three at the 16th saw him finish 14 under.
Ireland's David Higgins finished on -3, tied in twentieth place, while Paul McGinley will be disappointed with his +3 finish. Stephen Browne finished on +7.
