Round Two Report
Min Woo Lee heads into the weekend at the DS Automobiles Italian Open with a two shot lead after following up his opening round of 64 with a 68 on day two in Rome.
The 23-year-old Australian, who claimed his second European Tour title and maiden Rolex Series victory in Scotland earlier this season, began the day in a three way tie at the top of the leaderboard but carded four birdies and a single bogey on Friday to get to ten under par and establish his first 36 hole lead on the European Tour.
Lee has a quality chasing pack sitting just two strokes behind him, with last month’s D+D Real Czech Masters champion Johannes Veerman, Ryder Cup star Tommy Fleetwood, two-time European Tour winner Mikko Korhonen and Spain’s Adri Arnaus in a tie for second on eight under.
Major Champion Henrik Stenson and home favourite Edoardo Molinari were then among the large group another shot further back.
Due to the threat of thunderstorms in the Italian capital on Saturday afternoon, round three of the DS Automobiles Italian Open will be a two-tee start U-draw, beginning at 07:30 local time.
Player Quotes
Min Woo Lee: “Very solid again. Didn’t make too many mistakes, made a couple of bad swings but the ball, it was going really far, and I didn’t really change the way I played, I just hit everything so long. Very solid, hit a couple nice putts coming down the stretch and happy to be in the lead with two rounds to go.
“The pin is in a little funky spot on the top (17 green) and if you land it up top you are probably going to go over the back. So going back to hitting it long, we were trying to hit a seven iron on the bottom of the hill and I’ve just nuked this thing, and as soon as I hit it I said “sit down”, and it landed pretty much perfect, and at the time we thought it lipped out as well, so there was the cheeky grin because it ended up stopping.
“First step will be to keep the umbrella in the bag. I’m not sure how it will play wet but I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Tommy Fleetwood: “This year, especially the second half of the year, I feel like I have got off to a good start in quite a few events and then never really kept it going, so today was good. I didn’t particularly feel like, I had spells where I hit it really good and then I had spells where it wasn’t very good, so I guess that is the game but all in all, very happy to turn up after a couple weeks off and to have a great couple days, and now a weekend with it all to play for.
“It’s always nice (playing with Francesco Molinari). It doesn’t make that much of a difference but at the same time, it is nice to play with someone you are very comfortable with and it’s always nice to see each other, and then we have ten hours together over the first two days to talk and play. Like I say, there is probably not another golfer out here that I feel as comfortable with playing so that does add to the ease of playing tournament golf.
“I keep taking every week very individually. I guess for me, I’m in the (European Ryder Cup) team luckily, well I’m not on the edge so I don’t have to play my way in, which is a lot of pressure. So for me, every other week this year, because let’s face it, I haven’t played great this year and I haven’t had the year that I want to and every week is the chance to start again in golf, that is the beauty of it. I am trying to work hard, I’m trying to get better, and you never know what can turn things around.
“I’ll just keep turning up, keep trying to do the right things and play. So if I put two rounds together, tomorrow I will try and put three and we will go to Sunday and I will try and put four, and we will see where I finish up. It is always great to be back, it will be nice to be in contention on Saturday and Wentworth is absolutely an event that everybody loves playing in so I would love to give it a good run there, but for me, keep trying to improve and be the golfer I want to be, which right now I’m not really there but hopefully I will be.”
Round Two Scores
132 M LEE (AUS) 64 68,
134 J VEERMAN (USA) 67 67, T FLEETWOOD (ENG) 66 68, M KORHONEN (FIN) 68 66, A ARNAUS (ESP) 66 68,
135 D VAN TONDER (RSA) 70 65, E MOLINARI (ITA) 65 70, A LEVY (FRA) 69 66, H STENSON (SWE) 64 71, N H?JGAARD (DEN) 66 69,
136 F LAPORTA (ITA) 66 70, E PEPPERELL (ENG) 65 71,
137 O FARR (WAL) 69 68, V PEREZ (FRA) 70 67, S JAMIESON (SCO) 70 67, J LUITEN (NED) 71 66, M KAWAMURA (JPN) 67 70,
138 V DUBUISSON (FRA) 70 68, F MOLINARI (ITA) 69 69, G GREEN (MAS) 69 69, S BROWN (ENG) 67 71, K SAMOOJA (FIN) 64 74, M JORDAN (ENG) 71 67, R FISHER (ENG) 67 71, M ANTCLIFF (AUS) 69 69,
139 D COUPLAND (ENG) 70 69, J CALDWELL (NIR) 71 68, T PIETERS (BEL) 70 69, A MERONK (POL) 70 69, R BLAND (ENG) 70 69, M KIEFFER (GER) 69 70, S CROCKER (USA) 72 67, W BESSELING (NED) 73 66, B WIESBERGER (AUT) 69 70, D WHITNELL (ENG) 69 70, S HEND (AUS) 65 74,
140 P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP) 70 70, C HILL (SCO) 75 65, G COETZEE (RSA) 72 68, J LAGERGREN (SWE) 71 69, A ROZNER (FRA) 71 69, A CHESTERS (ENG) 70 70, M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 70 70, D HORSEY (ENG) 69 71, C SHINKWIN (ENG) 69 71,
141 F ZANOTTI (PAR) 72 69, D FICHARDT (RSA) 72 69, S SHARMA (IND) 75 66, B HEBERT (FRA) 67 74, J SURI (USA) 68 73, D BURMESTER (RSA) 70 71, S V?LIM?KI (FIN) 70 71, G MIGLIOZZI (ITA) 72 69, M SIEM (GER) 72 69, R ROUSSEL (FRA) 68 73,
142 R H?JGAARD (DEN) 72 70, G FORREST (SCO) 72 70, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 71 71, P WARING (ENG) 70 72, T PULKKANEN (FIN) 72 70, J GUERRIER (FRA) 69 73, J GONNET (FRA) 71 71, S HORSFIELD (ENG) 69 73, A SADDIER (FRA) 67 75, J QUESNE (FRA) 70 72, J CATLIN (USA) 72 70,
143 W ORMSBY (AUS) 72 71, O WILSON (ENG) 73 70, J SJ?HOLM (SWE) 75 68, J WALTERS (RSA) 72 71, A ROMANO (AM) (ITA) 72 71, A BJ?RK (SWE) 73 70, W NIENABER (RSA) 69 74, J CAMPILLO (ESP) 69 74, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 70 73, R LANGASQUE (FRA) 72 71, G HIGGO (RSA) 70 73, D DRYSDALE (SCO) 71 72,
144 D GAVINS (ENG) 71 73, S GALLACHER (SCO) 73 71, J HANSEN (DEN) 72 72, J DONALDSON (WAL) 72 72, M KINHULT (SWE) 73 71, T OLESEN (DEN) 72 72, G FDEZ-CASTA?O (ESP) 71 73, B STONE (RSA) 68 76, M LORENZO-VERA (FRA) 69 75,
145 N COLSAERTS (BEL) 77 68, M FITZPATRICK (ENG) 72 73, M KAYMER (GER) 75 70, G HAVRET (FRA) 74 71, L BJERREGAARD (DEN) 73 72, S KJELDSEN (DEN) 73 72, D VAN DRIEL (NED) 73 72, A JOHNSTON (ENG) 72 73, R MCGOWAN (ENG) 75 70, F CELLI (AM) (ITA) 70 75,
146 M PAVON (FRA) 71 75, S GARCIA RODRIGUEZ (ESP) 72 74, J HARDING (RSA) 73 73, C WOOD (ENG) 72 74, M WALLACE (ENG) 73 73, J WINTHER (DEN) 76 70, R RAMSAY (SCO) 75 71, S SODERBERG (SWE) 73 73, N ELVIRA (ESP) 69 77, L DONALD (ENG) 74 72,
147 L CANTER (ENG) 72 75, R KARLBERG (SWE) 71 76, S KIM (USA) 76 71, A SULLIVAN (ENG) 70 77, R PARATORE (ITA) 71 76, T DETRY (BEL) 72 75, O FISHER (ENG) 75 72, D LAW (SCO) 75 72,
148 A COCKERILL (CAN) 76 72, J SMITH (ENG) 73 75, C PAISLEY (ENG) 75 73, A QUIROS (ESP) 72 76, R SANTOS (POR) 76 72, J VECCHI FOSSA (ITA) 70 78,
149 Z LOMBARD (RSA) 73 76, R ROCK (ENG) 76 73, P BOVARI (AM) (ITA) 74 75, R MCEVOY (ENG) 75 74, S HEISELE (GER) 76 73, G STORM (ENG) 77 72, N BERTASIO (ITA) 75 74, S MAZZOLI (ITA) 77 72,
150 C SHARVIN (NIR) 78 72, A ZEMMER (ITA) 78 72, H PORTEOUS (RSA) 70 80, J SENIOR (ENG) 77 73, D BUCHI (AM) (ITA) 75 75, M JIM?NEZ (ESP) 77 73, G PORTEOUS (ENG) 72 78, J STALTER (FRA) 71 79, R FOX (NZL) 76 74,
151 L SCALISE (ITA) 76 75, K MOON (KOR) 74 77, L GAGLI (ITA) 75 76,
152 E DI NITTO (ITA) 77 75, G DE LEO (ITA) 76 76,
153 J MORRISON (ENG) 77 76,
154 F MACCARIO (ITA) 79 75, C SYME (SCO) 77 77, G MANZONI (AM) (ITA) 75 79,
156 R JACQUELIN (FRA) 81 75,
157 L CIANCHETTI (ITA) 77 80,
158 M WARREN (SCO) 86 72,
160 A PAVAN (ITA) 80 80,
161 T PERRINO (ITA) 81 80,
