The Italian Open leaderboard has an antipodean look about it at the halfway stage with Aussie left-hander Richard Green and Kiwi Elliott Boult heading the log jam at the top on 12 under par 132. Seven players are only a shot off the lead including Spain’s Francisco Cea who shaved two shots off Is Molas course record with an outstanding nine under par 63.
Boult is one of a number of players fighting for survival this week in what is their last playing opportunity of the year. The 34-year-old, who now lives in Perth, is currently 157th in the Volvo Order of Merit and needs to finish in the top two to extend his playing rights for the 2001 season.
He now finds himself leading a European Tour event for the first time having recorded his lowest ever halfway total.
“This has put me in a great position. I’ve just got to go out there and do the same as what I have been doing. I don’t think I can put a number on it but if I walked off with 20 under I would be happy. I think that is a good number to think off.
“But come Sunday if I am in the same position I think I will be a bit nervous.”
Green has no such worries having secured his card much earlier in the season but he finds himself playing for a place in next week’s Volvo Masters field. At 72nd place in the Volvo Order of Merit going into this week he has to move up some 15 places if he is to take part at Montecastillo.
“The whole package has been good,” this week. “The front nine was the highlight today. Not a lot of guys are making a lot of birdies on the front nine but I made five.
“I just want to win again. There’s the Volvo Masters next week but I want to win again. Winning will take care of that.
"This course suits us from Down Under. I couldn't believe it when I arrived. There are gum trees and the vegetation is almost the same as Australia. it suits us here."
A host of players are just one shot of the pace including Cea, whose 63 was the “best round of my life”. Also on 11 under par is England’s Ian Poulter who has his sights set on overtaking Scotland’s Alastair Forsyth for the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award. Forsyth is just over 60,000 euro ahead of Poulter but with the Scot missing the cut, Poulter has a the opportunity to move ahead with one event to go.
Ireland’s Eamonn Darcy is also on 11 under in his bid to continue his sequence of 30 unbroken years on Tour along with England’s Peter Baker and Van Phillips, Argentina’s Ricardo Gonzalez and South African Roger Wessels.
Lee Westwood, the current leader of the Volvo Order of Merit, recovered with three birdies in the last four holes for a round of 70 to lie five shots off the pace but needs to sort out his putting problems if he is to win a record seventh title of the season this week.
“Five shots off the lead is not that much,” he said. “It’s still in there. The putt on the last was a big one to stay only five behind. I’m not out of it but I’m going to have to find something on the greens.”
A total of 82 players survived the halfway cut but among the notable absentees who will now have to face up to the Qualifying School is Jim Payne, winner of this title only four years ago.
