Brier Masters rain to move clear at Galgorm

Markus Brier backed up yesterday’s magnificent 65 with a gritty 69 in extremely challenging conditions to reach -10 and take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Black Desert NI Legends at Galgorm. Sweden’s Mikael Lundberg is at -8 after a battling 71, with England’s Simon Griffiths in third, one shot further back after the round of the day – a 67 that included two eagles. Three players are at six-under, with Andrew Marshall being joined by Van Phillips and Adilson Da Silva, who both carded superb rounds of 68 in heavy rain and strong winds. Overnight leader Scott Hend had reached 10-under himself after an eagle at the 9th and a birdie at the next, but as the weather worsened he dropped shots at four of the next six holes and finished with a disastrous double-bogey seven at the 18th to drop back to -4 after a 76. Starting on the 10th, Brier began the day one shot behind Hend but lost ground straight away, hitting his tee shot into the water. A bogey resulted, and two more were added on his front nine. But the Austrian, who after round one assessed himself as an ‘above average rain player’, proved to be much better than that as he reeled off five superb birdies in seven holes on his back nine to take sole possession of the lead at -10. “I just found my game at the end and got a bit lucky with another chip-in and a monster putt, but before that I made a few good shots to get me back into the game. When the rain settled in, I just put my rain glove on and got my head down. I was just happy I survived,” said Brier, who is chasing a first win on the Legends Tour since 2021.