Julien Brun celebrates his second victory this season
Gradi Polish Open by Emmeralld
Frenchman Julien Brun is the new number 1 on the Pro Golf Tour! The 28-year-old secured the winner's trophy at the Gradi Polish Open by Emeralld 2020 with rounds of 61, 66 and 65 strokes, a total of 18 under par, thus completing his second success of the season; he had already won the Open Casa Green Golf in Morocco in February. Brun ended up two points ahead of the Swiss Jeremy Freiburghaus (60, 67, 67/-16) on the par-70 course of the Gradi Golf Club in Prusice, Poland. 3rd place went to Dominik Pietzsch from Munich with 15 under par (60, 65, 70/-15).
Prusice/Poland – "Precise teeshots to the middle of the fairway and absolutely concentrated irons onto the green!" That’s how Julien Brun describes the recipe for success for his second victory of the season, which he achieved in impressive style at the Gradi Golf Club. As to be accurate: at 5437 metres, the course is also as a par 70 not too challenging on paper for the long hitters of the Pro Golf Tour. "But you should not be fooled by that," Brun says. "Of course you can attack at many holes. But that can also go very quickly wrong on this course. Because if you don’t hit the fairway or miss the green, even par is difficult to rescue on many holes!"
So precision was the order of the week in Poland, and this was shown in a particularly impressive way in the first round by German Dominik Pietzsch and Jeremy Freiburghaus from Switzerland, who both made no mistakes and returned to the clubhouse with 10 under par. Julien Brun recorded a round of 61 (-9) without any mistakes.
On the second day, Pietzsch added a 65 and was now leading the field with 15 under par and one stroke ahead of the Swiss Marco Iten, who had managed the third tournament round of 60 (66+60/-14). On the final day, his compatriot Jeremy Freiburghaus regained the lead with a hole-in-one at hole 3. But in the end it was Julien Brun who passed all his opponents with an eagle on the 17th and was celebrated as the champion of the Gradi Polish Open by Emeralld 2020 soon after. Having teed off with a 6-iron on this 485-metre long par 5, he placed a 5-iron close to the green and then chipped it in from just under 15 metres, over a large wave running right to left.
Jeremy Freiburghaus finished his round with a double bogey and thus missed the play-off. Dominik Pietzsch had taken the three shots, which he had too much on his account for in the end, with a double bogey at hole 10 and a bogey at hole 18.
Beautiful course and fine organisation
"It's fantastic to continue the season with a victory on this beautiful course," said the tournament winner, who not only praised the greens, which are as constant as they are fast, but also the organisation of the event under corona conditions: "On the course itself, everything was so well organised that it didn’t feel different to any other tournament. Before and after the round there were a few things to consider, but it was all absolutely professional and very sensibly arranged."
The man from Cagnes-sur-Mer, who lives in Prague, will now start next week as the new number 1 in the Order of Merit at the Raiffeisen Pro Golf Tour St. Pölten 2020, which starts on 4 August in St. Pölten in Austria.