Higgins and Burns rewarded

A WEEKEND of hard work spurred David Higgins and Raymond Burns to title challenging performances when the Austrian Open began at Litschau yesterday. Higgins rebounded from his Scandinavian Masters flop with a faultless 66, while Burns, another to make an early exit at, Gothenburg, shot 68 to also put himself into contention.

Their success made up for a disappointing start by Paul McGinley whose 73, on the undulating parkland of the Waldviertcl club, leaves him with an uphill task to qualify for the final 36 holes. He starts today's second round nine shots behind leader Scott Watson.

Watson's 64 included an eagle and seven birdies and it gave him a one stroke advantage over Italian Massimo Scarpa and Spaniard Juan Carlos Pinero, with Higgins among a group of six sharing fourth place.

Milltown's Francis Howley, who was three under par after seven holes, had 71. However, former champion Ronan Rafferty also had a moderate outing managing only two birdie fours in a par 72.

Higgins was so disgusted with making three bogeys in the last five holes of his second round at Forsgarden last Friday, that he headed straight home. He was on the practice range next morning with elder brother Brian ironing out the kinks in his swing concentrating particularly on a smoother take away. The result was an eagle and four birdies and £20 which he won in a private wager with Burns.

Higgins, who won the bulk of his £33,000 prize money when he was joint third in the rain shortened BMW Open in Munich, still needs another £15,000 to qualify for a 1997 Tour card. This week is one of his best opportunities because Ryder Cup qualifying begins shortly and then the Tour is dominated by limited field events for which he is not yet qualified.

"I am putting and playing well again after the work I did with my brother," said Higgins, who was on the long first with a drive and four iron and holed from 15 feet for his eagle. He had two more five yard putts, as well as a pair of eight foot conversions.

Burns did his weekend penance for a poor performance in Sweden at Warrenpoint with his coach Don Patterson. "I played tripe in Gothenburg, but now I am hitting the ball fabulously," he said. "We went back to basics and sorted out my set up and ball position. I had got into so many bad habits, over the last few months."

Burns is set to take more time over his golf - he tends to rush his shots - and also concentrate on better quality practice. I need to slow down a bit, and think about what I am doing on the practice range instead of just hitting a load of balls," he added.

He had five birdies and his only mistake was to overshoot the 17th green, a bogey he recouped instantly by wedging to within 18 inches on the next green.

McGinley started with a birdie four, but soon realised it would not be his day when he three putted the third and twice missed short range putts on the way to an outward 36. He missed good birdie chances at the 10th and 11th and then went over par by three putting the 12th where he failed from only two feet. After that he was thankful to make pars at the remaining holes.

"I did not feel I hit any bad putts but nothing went right for me," he said. There were a lot of mis reads and a lot of lip outs. It just wasn't my day."

Howley, who faces the difficult task of winning around £20.000 from his remaining tournaments to keep his card, began in confident fashion two putting the long first for a birdie, then getting down from 10 feet and six feet at the fifth and seventh for further birdies. His approach play then lost its edge and he let a valuable shot slip at the last by wedging over the green and taking three putts from the back edge.