A seven under par 65, his lowest round on The European Tour, helped Sweden’s Fredrik Widmark into a share of the lead with first round pacesetter Peter O’Malley at the halfway stage of the 60th Italian Open Telecom Italia at Gardagolf.
The duo finished locked together on ten under par 134, after O’Malley followed his course record 64 with a 70, to move one shot clear of Dutchman Rolf Muntz, who carded 66 for 135, while Gary Clark, Pehr Magnebrant and Steen Tinning shared fourth on eight under par 136.
Ironically Widmark, who finished 14th on the Challenge Tour Rankings last year to gain his playing privileges, looked far from leader material when he double bogeyed the second hole after his nine iron tee shot found a water hazard.
But two good strokes of fortune soon got the 27 year old back on track. Firstly, he rolled in a 30 foot putt for eagle three on fifth hole before an even more audacious stroke gave him an eagle two at the 344 yard seventh, holing out with his 50 yard lob wedge approach.
It proved the spark to ignite his move up the leaderboard as quickly got to grips with the pace of the greens on the back nine, rolling in five birdies putts, varying in distance from one foot to 25, to be home in impressive figures of 31.
Widmark admitted the preparation of playing all of last year in the competitive environment of the Challenge Tour had been ideal preparation for the graduation to The European Tour.
“The scoring is pretty good on the Challenge Tour so in that way I don’t think there is too much of a difference between it and The European Tour,” he said. “The cut is 50 on the Challenge Tour and 70 here so that works out pretty much the same.”
When at Western Texas College in America, Widmark played a lot of golf with his fellow student Kenneth Ferrie, and was one of the most delighted onlookers when the Englishman claimed his maiden Tour title in last week’s Canarias Open de España.
“With him not being here this week I haven’t had the chance to congratulate him yet but I’ll probably catch him next week at the Benson and Hedges International Open,” said Widmark. “I was very happy for him and it just showed that it might not be that far off for me either.”
Joint leader O’Malley could not quite produce the fireworks of his opening day 64 and indeed looked in danger of slipping out of pole position altogether when he started his second round with consecutive bogeys.
But the Australian got back on track with an eagle three at the fifth, where he holed from eight feet after his five wood second had found the heart of the green, and an inward half of 34 ensured he would play in the final group in round three.
“It can be hard to follow a good round with another one and you really have to get off to a good start which I didn’t manage to do,” said the three time winner on The European Tour International Schedule.
“You hit a good bit of momentum when you make a few birdies but I lacked a bit of that today. It wasn’t too bad though and tomorrow I will try and consolidate and play solid. I am still in the lead and I want to stay there.”
Third placed Muntz was another player for whom the eagle landed, the Dutchman’s spectacular effort coming at the par four eighth, where he holed his pitching wedge approach from 150 yards for an unlikely eagle two.
Unfortunately for the winner of the 2000 Qatar Masters, he dropped a shot at the ninth but recovered with birdies at the tenth, 12th and 16th on the way home. Naturally, he was upbeat about his chances. “I’m right in it now,” he said. “Keep up the good work, hole the putts and you never know, give me the trophy, thank you!”
One shot behind Muntz on eight under par 136 were three players, England’s Gary Clark, who carded 70, Swede Pehr Magnebrant who matched fellow countryman Widmark’s 65, while Tinning matched O’Malley’s course record 64 of round one.
“Putting was the real key for me today,” said Magnebrant. “I worked very hard over the winter on my putting at home in Stockholm. Obviously with the winters in Sweden I had to practice indoors on like Astroturf but it did help me.
“I used to be far too tense with the putter, holding it too tightly, so I tried to relax the grip a little bit and relax the stroke as well and now I feel a lot more comfortable over the ball. It’s not the same as grass obviously and although you can’t judge the pace of putts so well, you can work on the stroke and that is what I concentrated on.”
Tinning’s round was all the more laudable considering he was playing while trying as much as possible to protect an injury to his right wrist which forced his withdrawal from the Algarve Open de Portugal a fortnight ago.
“I still don’t know about my wrist, whether the injury will flare up at any time again, it is still not one hundred per cent,” he said. “Whenever I get a shot I have to hit down on I don’t like it very much. It is in the back of my mind and I’ve had a couple of shots this week where I have been a bit wary.
“Apart from that it has been a bit of a struggle recently. I have made silly mistakes in every tournament and just missed the cut by a couple of shots in each one. But today has given me a lot of confidence to go forward into the weekend.”
One shot behind the trio, and amongst a group of players who ended their opening two rounds on seven under par 137 was seven time Volvo Order of Merit winner Colin Montgomerie, making his first appearance in Europe this season, and who celebrated the fact with an excellent 67.
The Scot, playing with new cavity-backed Hogan clubs for the first time in competition, was level par through ten holes but saw his challenge catch fire, ironically, when the rain came down on the back nine, birdieing the 11th, 14th, and 17th as well as notching an eagle three at the 16th to be home in 32.
“The good shots are much better than they have been recently and it’s good to be in the top ten for the first time this year,” he said. “I’ve never won the Italian Open and that was one of the reasons I entered here. I’m only three back with two rounds to go so obviously I have a chance.”
