Matthew Fitzpatrick fired a six under par 65 to edge one shot clear of Denmark’s Joachim B. Hansen at the halfway mark of the Italian Open, the fifth event in the European Tour’s Rolex Series.
Fitzpatrick posted four birdies and one bogey on the front nine and picked up three shots in his final five holes to move to ten under par for the tournament at Olgiata Golf Club.
The former Ryder Cup player has won in each of the past four seasons, including twice in 2016, but has yet to register a European Tour victory in 2019, having finished runner up in both the BMW International Open in June and the Scandinavian Invitation in August.
He goes into the weekend with a slender advantage over Hansen, who eagled the fifth en route to a second round 66 to move to nine under par, building on his tied fourth place in last week’s Mutuactivos Open de España which moved him to 89th place in the Race to Dubai.
World Number Five Justin Rose is among the impressive chasing pack sharing third place two shots further back on seven under par. The former US Open Champion posted six birdies in his round of 69 and briefly held a share of the lead alongside Hansen, but slipped back with a double bogey six on his penultimate hole.
Rose is joined by another former US Open Champion, Graeme McDowell, who eagled the 17th hole in a round of 66, Englishman Andrew Johnston (68), India’s Shubhankar Sharma (69) and Slovakia’s Rory Sabbatini (70).
Home favourite Francesco Molinari, the 2018 Open Champion, carded a five over par round of 76 to miss the cut by five shots, while Shane Lowry, the player who succeeded him as Champion Golfer of the Year, also failed to make it through to the weekend after a level par round of 70 left him one stoke short.
Player quotes
Matthew Fitzpatrick
“Just a really solid day. I figured out something with my irons after the second hole. I just needed to get a little bit more loft on it going back, something I’ve been working on since Wentworth, really. Just felt much more comfortable with my irons once I was out there. That certainly showed. Only missed one green after that.
“I think I got to seven under par and I thought, now I’m sort of in the mix, really, which is obviously where you want to be. I did feel the way I played on the front nine, I was able to push it on the back nine, certainly, to get to 10 under.
“It’s been a little while, Germany, which was back in June, that I was challenging and then Sweden. When you’re in these kind of positions, it’s always exciting. That’s why you play the game, and I look forward to the weekend.”
Joachim B. Hansen
“I played really well today. I got off to a bad start on the first hole, but a few pars after that and suddenly I holed my second one on the fifth hole which was nice, and I kept running from there.
“I love the golf course. It reminds me a little bit about last week. It’s just a bit longer, but you really need to hit the fairways and the greens. The rough around the greens is hard to play from. Fairways and greens is what you want to do.
“I’ve been hitting the ball well. I’ve got my coach here this week, which is really nice, and my father, as well. Finishing fourth last week was just what I needed to relax a bit and set some new targets. I’m looking forward to the next two days and see what happens.”
Justin Rose
“I had a poor finish, but there was some good stuff, as well. Whenever I did make a mistake, I put it behind me. I always tended to make some birdies after that. The putter again was pretty solid. I was happy with that. I did hit a couple more quality golf shots which is nice.
“When you do see it come out on the golf course as it does on the range, you know you’re getting close and you just need up to the frequency of that. I did hit a couple of very good shots today.
“So I’m happy with the day’s work. Yesterday I walked off maxing out what I could have scored. Today I left a few out there but everyone can walk off saying something similar.”
Graeme McDowell
“The way I played 17 was very pleasing. I hit the tee shot in the perfect spot. The 17th is a perfect example of this golf course. If you get out of position on 17, it’s a challenging little hole, but if you hit a good drive, it’s 240 flag, five-wood and you can make birdies and eagles. Nice little second shot to the last after missing the fairway, but you know, I’m just enjoying myself out there.
“It’s a fun golf course to play. I think it plays into sort of my type of game. You’ve got to grind it around a little bit, and looking forward to being in contention this weekend.”
Round two scores
132 M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 67 65,
133 J Hansen (Den) 67 66,
135 G McDowell (Nir) 69 66, R Sabbatini (Svk) 65 70, S Sharma (Ind) 66 69, J Rose (Eng) 66 69, A Johnston (Eng) 67 68,
136 A Rai (Eng) 69 67, K Kitayama (USA) 66 70, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 71 65, J Guerrier (Fra) 69 67, M Wallace (Eng) 69 67, E Van Rooyen (RSA) 68 68, A Pavan (Ita) 69 67, T Pulkkanen (Fin) 64 72, M Korhonen (Fin) 69 67, B Wiesberger (Aut) 66 70,
137 P Waring (Eng) 70 67, T Hatton (Eng) 68 69, M Schwab (Aut) 68 69,
138 A Arnaus (Esp) 70 68, G Migliozzi (Ita) 72 66, R Macintyre (Sco) 69 69, S Kjeldsen (Den) 68 70, D Willett (Eng) 68 70, J Luiten (Ned) 66 72, A Otaegui (Esp) 68 70,
139 R Fisher (Eng) 68 71, M Kinhult (Swe) 72 67, J Smith (Eng) 69 70, T Jaidee (Tha) 69 70, L Herbert (Aus) 74 65, S Horsfield (Eng) 68 71, C Paisley (Eng) 68 71, D Horsey (Eng) 69 70, J Suri (USA) 70 69, F Laporta (Ita) 69 70, K Samooja (Fin) 70 69,
140 A Levy (Fra) 69 71, A Wu (Chn) 70 70, N Elvira (Esp) 72 68, J Morrison (Eng) 72 68, E Molinari (Ita) 70 70,
141 G Fdez-Castaño (Esp) 72 69, N Bertasio (Ita) 72 69, W Ormsby (Aus) 71 70, J Scrivener (Aus) 71 70, J Harding (RSA) 72 69, R Paratore (Ita) 71 70, J Walters (RSA) 70 71, O Fisher (Eng) 71 70, R Sterne (RSA) 72 69, R Fox (Nzl) 70 71, S Gallacher (Sco) 70 71, J Wang (Kor) 72 69, N Colsaerts (Bel) 72 69, L Westwood (Eng) 69 72,
142 G Coetzee (RSA) 69 73, S Soderberg (Swe) 74 68, E Pepperell (Eng) 70 72, J Lagergren (Swe) 71 71, V Perez (Fra) 74 68, D Burmester (RSA) 70 72, A Noren (Swe) 72 70, T Pieters (Bel) 71 71, J Kruyswijk (RSA) 70 72, A Chesters (Eng) 71 71, D Lipsky (USA) 72 70, S Chawrasia (Ind) 74 68,
143 R Ramsay (Sco) 71 72, I Poulter (Eng) 72 71, J Singh Brar (Eng) 71 72, M Pavon (Fra) 72 71, P Larrazábal (Esp) 73 70, T Detry (Bel) 71 72, A Quiros (Esp) 71 72, H Li (Chn) 73 70, R Langasque (Fra) 70 73, P Harrington (Irl) 74 69, S Manley (Wal) 75 68, S Lowry (Irl) 72 71, B Stone (RSA) 70 73, L Slattery (Eng) 71 72,
144 B Dredge (Wal) 72 72, J Donaldson (Wal) 72 72, R Jacquelin (Fra) 72 72, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 69 75, T Aiken (RSA) 74 70, F Zanotti (Par) 73 71, T Immelman (RSA) 74 70, R Karlsson (Swe) 75 69, A Björk (Swe) 75 69, L Donald (Eng) 70 74,
145 M Southgate (Eng) 70 75, Y Miyazato (Jpn) 73 72, M Kaymer (Ger) 72 73, M Kieffer (Ger) 75 70, R Gouveia (Por) 73 72, D Drysdale (Sco) 75 70,
146 J Winther (Den) 71 75, D Fichardt (RSA) 75 71, E Di Nitto (Ita) 73 73, J Van Zyl (RSA) 75 71, S Brown (Eng) 74 72, A Sullivan (Eng) 75 71, G Green (Mas) 71 75,
147 G Forrest (Sco) 70 77, P Dunne (Irl) 70 77, B Hebert (Fra) 70 77, F Molinari (Ita) 71 76, P Casey (Eng) 71 76, S Jamieson (Sco) 76 71,
148 J Dantorp (Swe) 76 72, L Scalise (Ita) 72 76, P Figueiredo (Por) 73 75, R Wattel (Fra) 77 71,
149 S Brazel (Aus) 77 72, A Romero (Arg) 72 77, J Campillo (Esp) 72 77, M Manassero (Ita) 71 78,
150 R Rock (Eng) 75 75, H Tanihara (Jpn) 76 74, G Bhullar (Ind) 74 76, H Porteous (RSA) 74 76,
151 C Wood (Eng) 76 75, L Johnston (Sco) 76 75, L Gagli (Ita) 73 78,
152 D Law (Sco) 77 75,
153 M Campbell (Nzl) 76 77, E Lipparelli (Ita) 85 68,
154 T Bjørn (Den) 76 78,
156 S Hend (Aus) 82 74,
157 F Bergamaschi (Ita) 77 80,
161 J Olazábal (Esp) 80 81, K Koivu (Fin) 83 78,
** R McEvoy (Eng) 73 RT, D Howell (Eng) 79 WD, C Bezuidenhout (RSA) WD 0,
