Nico Geyger may be facing the biggest weekend of his short European Tour career so far but the Chilean is not daunted by going up against an elite field at the BMW International Open.
The 31 year old birdied his last three holes on Friday at Golf Club Gut Laerchenhof to sit just a shot off the lead and will go out in the final group alongside two-time European Tour winner Scott Hend on Saturday.
Two-time Major winner Martin Kaymer and formidable Danish duo Søren Kjeldsen and Thorbjørn Olesen are also in the chasing pack in Pulheim but Geyger - whose best finish since graduating from the Qualifying School is a tie for 12th at the NBO Oman Open - is relishing the challenge ahead of him.
“I'm just here to play golf,” he said. “The other guys here are good and that's great, if I'm able to play with them, even better.
“All of us are here just to play golf. This is a great golf course and we're just trying to make birdies. That's the plan.
“I mean, I've been playing well. Thankfully on the last three holes I was able to make some putts and I was hitting the ball good.
“It's still pretty windy and if you're not able to catch the fairways it's easy to get in trouble, so it's still tough out there.”
Fellow Q School graduate Henric Sturehed was also at five under as he continues to adapt to life on Tour after a rocky start.
The Swede missed his first six cuts but then finished in a tie for fifth at the Open de España, although his progress was curtailed by injury after he was forced to withdraw from the Rocco Forte Sicilian Open.
“It was quite hard, I lost a lot of strength in my arm, I had some problems to grip the club properly,” he said. “When I'm just standing on the range there is no danger but if I'm in the rough or expose my arm to more pressure it was very painful but I'm glad to be back now.
“I've played quite safe these two days and given myself a little longer clubs into the greens but as long as you are in the fairway you have some good opportunities to make some birdies out there.”
