St. Andrews, Scotland (Sports Network) - Markus Brier posted a two-under 70 Friday to take a one-stroke lead after two rounds of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

This event resembles the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on the PGA Tour in that play is spread over three courses and amateurs compete alongside the pros each of the first three days.

Brier posted his 70 on the Old Course at St. Andrews. He completed 36 holes at eight-under-par 136.

The other two courses in the rotation are Kingsbarns Golf Links and the Championship Course at Carnoustie Golf Club. Twelve of the top-14 players on the leaderboard competed at St. Andrews on Friday.

Rory McIlroy posted a four-under 68 in the second round. That moved him to seven-under-par 137, where he was joined in a tie for second place by Martin Kaymer (72), Robert Karlsson (70) and first-round co-leader Soren Hansen (73).

Of the top five, only McIlroy did not play at St. Andrews. He played at Carnoustie on Friday.

Brier, a two-time winner on the European Tour, stumbled out of the gate with a bogey at the 10th. However, he bounced right back with a birdie on the 11th. He reeled off six straight pars from the 12th.

The Austrian moved to minus-seven as he converted a birdie chance at the par- four 18th. Around the turn, he stumbled to another bogey on the second.

Brier drained back-to-back birdie chances from the sixth to jump back into the lead at eight-under. He parred his final two holes to earn his second 36-hole lead on the European Tour.

"I didn't hit it too much off line. I kept it in the fairway and didn't struggle, no fairway bunkers or anything today, that was good," Brier said. "The long putts were good. I had quite a good feeling on the greens for the long putts, and I just stayed out of trouble."

McIlroy played the front nine at Carnoustie in even-par with seven pars, a birdie and a bogey. On the back nine, he ran off three straight birdies from the 10th en route to his 69.

Kaymer bogeyed the third, but rebounded with birdies at seven and eight. After a birdie at 12, Kaymer bogeyed three of the next five holes to slide back to minus-six. He gained a share of second thanks to a birdie at the last.

Karlsson got going with birdies on one and two. He parred the next five holes before tripping to a bogey at the eighth. Karlsson recovered that stroke as he birdied the ninth.

Around the turn, Karlsson parred four straight from No. 10 before sinking a birdie effort at 14. He cost himself a share of the lead with a bogey on 17.

Hansen, who played alongside Kaymer, faltered to bogeys at five and six to go with seven pars on the front nine. He got one stroke back with a birdie at 12, but tripped to another bogey on the 16th. Hansen finished one shot out of the lead thanks to a birdie at the last.

Two-time major champion this year Padraig Harrington (71) and former U.S. Open champ Michael Campbell (70) are tied for sixth at six-under-par 138. They were joined there by Lee Westwood (70), Gary Orr (72), Raphael Jacquelin (70), Jarmo Sandelin (72), Magnus A. Carlsson (68) and Jose-Filipe Lima (71).

Ross Fisher, who shared the first-round lead with Hansen, struggled to a four- over 76 to slide into a share of 16th at minus-four.

The highest players on the leaderboard that competed at Kingsbarns on Friday are Thomas Levet (74) and Peter Lawrie (71), who are among six players tied in 23rd place.

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@