Straka and Steinlechner turned Kitzbühel into a golf cauldron

KITZBUEHEL, AUSTRIA - MAY 29: Sepp Straka of Austria during Austria Alpine Open 2026 on May 29, 2026 in Kitzbuehel (Photo: Kitzbühel - Tirol / Jan Hetfleisch)

Kitzbühel, May 29, 2026. – Everything is set for a dramatic golf weekend at the Austrian Alpine Open presented by Kitzbühel – Tirol! On Friday, Sepp Straka put himself in a strong position with a round of 66 (-4) and a total of 133 strokes (-7), as did Maximilian Steinlechner (68/-2), who also stands at seven under par after two days. Straka and Steinlechner enter the prize money standings tied for 11th place; Bernd Wiesberger (69/-1) is the third Austrian to make the cut. The Burgenland native ranks 30th with a total score of 135 strokes (-5).

On the second day of the $2.75 million DP World Tour tournament, 7,400 golf fans turned the Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith golf course into a veritable golfing cauldron amid picture-perfect weather. Every successful shot by the red-white-red duo was met with frenetic cheers—and there were plenty of them!  Only Straka’s putter took a little while to warm up.

“I played really well today. My tee shots were great, and my irons were strong, too. On the first 13 or 14 holes, I just didn’t make a single putt, but the putter was really good on the last four or five holes. I sank two birdie putts and also made two par saves, and that was pretty important,” Straka said at the press conference after his round, once again raving about the enormous fan support.

“The atmosphere was already incredible yesterday, and today it was actually unbelievable. There were so many fans out there—even more than yesterday. The atmosphere was so great that I hope even more people will come this weekend,” said Straka. You don’t have to be a prophet to predict that this wish will come true.

Maximilian Steinlechner got off to a flying start in his second round with four birdies on the front nine. After the turn, the Tyrolean did have to take two bogeys, but the local hero is still right up there in the mix at his home tournament. “Overall, I’m satisfied with how the tournament has gone so far. A score of seven under par after two rounds is always good. The back nine wasn’t as much fun today. Not much happened there, and then I also made two bogeys. But it was still cool to play in front of such a big crowd. I’m not really used to that. I haven’t heard so many ‘Maxi’ chants in a long time,” said Steinlechner.

Bernd Wiesberger was less pleased with his performance on the second day in Kitzbühel, carding a round of 69 (-1). “It was a very frustrating day on all 18 holes,” said the winner of this year’s China Open. Wiesberger lost three strokes on his front nine while making just one birdie. After that, the 40-year-old fought his way back and turned his score into the red with three more birdies. Nevertheless, he quoted Rory McIlroy in his analysis: “A very good player said about his round two weeks ago: ‘Shit!’ That sums it up pretty well.”

He let too many chances slip away, according to Wiesberger. “Today, something around 65 or 66 would have been possible—a day to write off, hopefully the worst one this week.”

Matthias Schwab narrowly missed the cut (-3) by one stroke with a par-70 round. The ten other Austrians missed the weekend more decisively, though Lukas Boandl still made a statement on Friday with a strong 64 (-6). In the end, the Styrian amateur was two strokes short of making the cut.

The halfway leader is England’s Andrew Johnston, who catapulted himself to the top of the leaderboard with an outstanding 62 (-8) and a total score of 129 (-11). One stroke behind, the trio of Kota Kaneko (JPN), Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP), and Calum Hill (SCO) share second place.