Golfer seeks shelter from the wind at St. Andrews

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They’re playing the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St. Andrews, so there are a few things to remember -- it is October, it’s Scotland and it’s not beach weather.

Austria’s Markus Brier, who should feel perfectly at home in cold places, is the second-round leader on Friday (he’s eight under par after two rounds), playing in a brisk and chilly wind that gusted up to 30 miles an hour.

Brier says he plays in Austria in the winter when it’s just three degrees, so he knows the routine.

‘You have to keep warm on the course and have the gloves out after every shot . . . today, I also had a big partner, so I can shelter behind him a bit.’

Brier’s partner today was South African rugby player Schalk Burger, who is 6-2 and 205 pounds and an on-course shelter if there ever was one.

-- Thomas Bonk