Sport

Nothing Bland about his run in

RICHARD BLAND birdied the last three holes of his second round to take the halfway lead at the Italian Open in Turin yesterday…

Sat Sept 15 2012 - 01:00

RICHARD BLAND birdied the last three holes of his second round to take the halfway lead at the Italian Open in Turin yesterday.

The Englishman carded a second successive 66, with birdies at the first, the 11th and four of the last six holes to eventually move ahead of a developing logjam at the top of the leaderboard.

France’s Gregory Bourdy shot 64 to leap to 11 under alongside Scot Marc Warren and Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, who both went round in 65, and Garth Mulroy of South Africa (67).

Bourdy said: “This morning it was perfect conditions to play on this course. It was a lovely round and I enjoyed it a lot. I was very solid and I’m very proud. Almost everything went right today.

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“Last week my driving was wonderful and so were my irons, and that continued today. I’ll try to do the same at the weekend.”

Richard McEvoy was at 10 under after following his opening 66 with a four-under-par 68.

First-round leader Joel Sjoholm fell into a seven-way tie for seventh on nine under after failing to go with the trend of improved scoring.

He could only follow yesterday’s eight-under-par 64 with a 71 and was level with fellow Swedes Mikael Lundberg and Joakim Lagergren, Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal, South African Richard Sterne, England’s Sam Little and Victor Dubuisson of France.

English pair Lee Slattery and David Howell were hot on Sjoholm’s tail overnight and that was where they remained, shooting 71 and 70 respectively to join compatriot Robert Coles and a host of others on eight under.

Ryder Cup-bound Martin Kaymer, Spaniard Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Welshman Bradley Dredge, Darren Fichardt of South Africa and India’s Shiv Kapur completed the group.

A second Ryder Cup player, Italian Francesco Molinari, was in the group at seven under, as was Northern Ireland’s Gareth Maybin, who recovered from a double-bogey at the short fourth hole to card a one-under 71, and Shane Lowry, who had five birdies and no dropped shots in a 67.

Damien McGrane bounced back from an opening 73 to card a 65 that included eight birdies and moved to six under.

A birdie at the last helped Peter Lawrie make the cut right on the number after a second straight 70, but Simon Thornton missed out after a 71 left him on one under, three shots from making the weekend.