BMW International Open - Day two digest

Hillier hit the front, Luiten hit another perfect shot, a debutant was causing a stir and Long was in a spin on day two of the BMW International Open.

Here is everything you need to know from Friday at Golfclub München Eichenried.

Hillier leads the way

Daniel Hiller carded an excellent bogey-free 67 on a tough day of scoring to take a one-shot lead into the weekend. It was a wild and windy day two in Bavaria and Hillier took advantage of the slightly easier early conditions to get to nine under and lead the way ahead of Danish invite Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen. "Pretty tough conditions out there," said the Kiwi. "Breeze is definitely up and making it tricky. Pretty swirling winds as well. I played really solid front nine. There were a couple of lucky ones coming in and managed to go round bogey free which was pretty good. I think it helps when you come from Wellington, playing in the wind all your life. Then you have to navigate your way around it. As I say, got lucky a couple of times coming in."

Two days, two aces

At last week's U.S. Open we had three holes-in-one to match the tally achieved at the Investec South African Open Championship, Singapore Classic and DS Automobiles Italian Open. And we could be on for another tournament hat-trick after Joost Luiten followed up Takumi Kanaya's day one ace with a six iron from 203 yards on the eighth. “I had 185 metres, wind off the left," he said. "Six iron, nice low ball off the wind and bounced like six or seven feet short and then released. I thought it was over the green but luckily there were some spectators around the green that were cheering. So we knew it was in but we couldn't really see it ourselves. But it was a nice bonus." We have now had 26 holes-in-one in 27 events this season.

Neergaard-Petersen enjoying dream debut

Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen was making the most of his invite to the BMW International Open as he carded a 67 to get right in the mix. The Dane only finished his collegiate career at Oklahoma State last month but looked assured in the paid ranks on day two of his DP World Tour debut, carding seven birdies and two bogeys to get to eight under. “This is my first DP World Tour event, so yesterday when I was starting I was quite nervous," he said. "But I know I have my game and I've just kind of taken it one shot at a time, done a really good job of staying right in the present, even though I've hit a couple of loose shots here and there, but I've been able to recover and just kind of move on."

Wheels take Hurly a long way

The mental side of golf is a huge part of the challenge professionals face on a daily basis, and it is not an uncommon practice for some players to close their eyes and try to visualise the shot they are about to hit. Hurly Long is one of those to close his eyes and shut out the light but it is not the course or the shot he is visualising - it is wheels slowing down. “Whether it's wheels or something, I’m just trying to get hyper focused," he said. "It has to go slowly because my adrenaline has to be low, my heartbeat has to be low. When I open my eyes it’s meant to be like, I am myself, and I can react subconsciously. That’s the idea.”

No putters required

It wasn't just Luiten who was holing out without the flat stick, although these were not from quite the same distance.