Germany’s Helen Briem and Sweden’s Ellinor Südow are tied for the lead on eight-under-par at the 36-hole mark of the 2025 Amundi German Masters.
The duo featured among the overnight leaders after opening rounds of 68 (-5) on the North Course at Green Eagle Golf Courses in Hamburg and they each followed it up with a 70 (-3) on day two.
Home star Briem got off to an excellent start with three birdies on her first three holes, before making three bogeys on holes five, six and seven to take her back to level par for the day.
However, on the back nine, the LET winner rediscovered her rhythm making birdies on the 10th, 14th and 18th holes to sit at the top of the leaderboard.
“I think it was an awesome start, Patricia [Schmidt] and me were both -3 after the first three holes which was just incredible those first three holes,” said the teenager. “I struggled a bit after that, but I think I kept it all together during the back nine.
“On the back nine, my golf was like it is usually. I think I hit every green in the back nine. The three greens I didn’t hit the green, I made bogey, so I think that was the key today and it was very solid.
“It was so much fun playing with Patricia and the crowd was amazing as well. I’m really happy.”
It was an excellent 27th birthday for Südow as she had six birdies and three bogeys on her scorecard to join Briem on eight-under-par.
“It’s a really good birthday,” said the Swede. “I had a wonderful day out there. It was tougher today, but I was able to roll in some birdies, so it was fun.
“It was nice to start well as I hit the first tee shot so far right, I had a bad lie and somehow managed to put it to six or seven feet and roll in that birdie very firmly and after that, it was pretty straightforward.
“I didn’t hit my drives very well today at all, I was very nervous overall and felt my legs shaking in the backswing throughout the 18 holes. It was a lot of nerves, a good test for me. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt that way. It gives me a lot of confidence, I’m going to go and hit some drives after this.”
Singapore’s Shannon Tan fired a round of 69 (-4) on day two in Hamburg to move just one shot behind the leaders into outright third place.
The Olympian was bogey-free rolling in birdies at the first, seventh, 11th and 15th holes to have a total of seven-under-par at the midway mark.
“It was just a day of hitting fairways and greens the whole day today,” said the LET winner. “I think I missed one fairway and two greens, but I think I missed it in the right spot, so that definitely does help.
“This course is quite challenging, it’s a ball-strikers course. You have to be in the right spots for certain pin positions, so I think it went to plan today.
“The par-5s, I think one is gettable and the rest you just have to lay up to a good number. I worked on my wedge play last week and I have changed my shafts on my wedges, which definitely helped my wedge game. That has been useful this week.
“Playing in front of crowds, I quite enjoy it. I saw Esther [Henseleit] win the silver medal at the Olympics last year and my dad is a big fan of her as well. he keeps saying I have to be more like Esther. She played well last year and that was my rookie year, so I’ve always seen her name up there.”
England’s Alice Hewson and New Zealand’s Amelia Garvey are in a tie for fourth place on six-under-par after second rounds of 72 (-1), respectively.
One shot further back and in a share of sixth place are Denmark’s Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen and England’s Thalia Martin.
It was an excellent second round for Martin, who won on the LET Access Series earlier this season, as she fired a bogey-free round of 66 (-7) – her best-ever round on the LET.
“I didn’t realise what I had shot, I had to ask mum afterwards because I was trying to be in the moment,” said Martin. “I haven’t been for the past four weeks since the win in Morocco, I kept on thinking about the future or the past, but I said to mum I’m staying in the moment and in the shot again and for some reason it just worked. I think it was more mindset.
“I have been struggling with my putting for the past four weeks including four-footers, so I have changed to not line up my putts, so I don’t think too much about it. I think that’s helped with some of the birdies, but also my approach shots were a lot closer this week.
“It’s the first time I didn’t know what I scored, I just kept saying let’s get another birdie. The other low rounds I knew and then I did course management and said let’s just make a par, but the last few holes today I just tried to keep going.”
Eight players are in a tie for eighth place on -4 just four shots behind the leaders including world number 21 Esther Henseleit of Germany.
The cut fell at +3 with 64 players making it through to the weekend. Round three will begin at 8.45 am (local time) with the leaders teeing off at 12.51 pm (local time) at Green Eagle Golf Courses.
Follow all the action throughout on our socials – @LETgolf on Instagram, TikTok and X, and Ladies European Tour on YouTube and Facebook – #AmundiGermanMasters.
