Joaquín Niemann will take a two-stroke lead into the weekend of the DS Automobiles 83° Open d’Italia after a flawless second round at Circolo Golf Torino.
Related: Edoardo Molinari sets course record to lead on home soil
The Chilean, who began Friday one shot off the pace, carded a bogey-free 63 to reach 15 under par and move to the top of the leaderboard after 36 holes in Turin.
Opening his round on the tenth tee, the 27-year-old had to settle for even par across his first six holes before a birdie at the 16th sparked a run of three. He capitalised on the momentum with an eagle at the 1st, while further gains at the 4th, 7th and 9th moved him clear of chaser Ángel Ayora.
View this post on Instagram
The Spaniard, playing alongside compatriot Eugenio Chacarra and Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald, followed up an opening round 66 with a 63 of his own, impressing with seven birdies, an eagle and just one bogey to get to 13 under.
The 21-year-old will now tackle the weekend of Italy’s national open in pursuit of his first DP World Tour title.
View this post on Instagram
The best round of the day, however, belonged to Matt Wallace. The Englishman’s ten birdies and solitary bogey saw him card a 62 and break the course record at Circolo Golf Torino – one that was only set by hometown favourite Edoardo Molinari yesterday, following an opening round 63.
The 36-year-old is now primed to take home the $40,000 prize pot, thanks to Nexo, should no player shoot lower on the weekend.
Wallace’s efforts also saw him power up the leaderboard, into a share of third alongside two-time DP World Tour winner Chacarra and France’s Tom Vaillant at 11 under, while fellow Frenchman Romain Langasque went bogey-free to finish one shot back in outright sixth.
Spanish pair Jorge Campillo and Ángel Hidalgo, France’s Frédéric Lacroix, Swede Joakim Lagergren and local Molinari round out a group at nine under par.
View this post on Instagram
Elsewhere, Spaniard Pablo Larrazábal did enough to play the weekend, making his first cut since the Qatar Masters in February. The 43-year-old followed up an opening round 66 with a 72, placing him at four under for the tournament and inside the cut line, for the first time in ten starts.
Player quotes
Joaquín Niemann: It was a pretty slow start. I knew going out in the morning early, with good greens, I needed to go kind of low in the beginning and put a score on. It was a little bit of a slower start than yesterday, and then I got it going on hole 15 I think it was.
Then I made a nice eagle also on the first. I mean, that helped me out to get that momentum and kind of take off a little bit.
I hit great shots. I hit a lot of fairways at the beginning of the round, hit good iron shots, had a few lip out. I feel like I could have made two or three putts there if they didn’t lip in. I think just the ball didn’t go in like it did on the rest of holes.
It’s a fun course. You got to hit it pretty straight. You got to be on the fairway, and when you’re in the fairway, you’re able to score pretty low because the greens are pretty soft. If you are good with your numbers, with the irons, you can go at every pin, and you’re pretty sure it’s going to stay close to the hole. It’s fun. A lot of birdies.
Matt (Wallace), today, played amazing golf as well. Yeah, it was fun.
