Italian Open 2021 R2
September 02-05
Marco Simone GC, Rome, Italy
€3,000,000
Round 1, Round 3, Round 4

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Australian Min Woo Lee fired a second round 68 to take a two shot lead into the weekend at the DS Automobiles Italian Open in Rome.

Italian Open 2021 R2

"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."

He started the day tied alongside Swede Henrik Stenson and Finn Kalle Samooja and produced four birdies and a single bogey at the par-4 6th to take his first 36 hole lead on the European Tour.

Italian Open 2021 R2

Another Finn, Mikko Korhonen (66), is tied for second place at 8-under alongside Spaniard Adri Arnaus (68), England's Tommy Fleetwood (68) and Johannes Veerman (67) of the USA.

"So far, I'm at the top of the leaderboard but whether it is a couple better or not, it's hard to get any better than top so I will see where I finish up at the end of the day and then we have the weekend's golf to get on with," said Fleetwood.

Italian Open 2021 R2

"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.

"I enjoyed it. Like I said yesterday, I was shocked how good the scoring was because I felt, I mean I had only played it in wind, but I felt like it was a really tough test every time I played it. Today, where they put the pins out, I felt like again it wasn't that easy to score. I had an amazing day on the greens, I putted great, and that was sort of where I made my score. But you can definitely see in a couple years' time where the grandstands will be and the atmosphere on some of the holes.

Italian Open 2021 R2

Stenson shot two bogeys and two birdies on the front nine to make the turn in 35, made back-to-back birdies at the 11th and 12th but unfortunately double bogeyed the 17th to close with a 71. He moved down into sixth place alongside local favourite Edoardo Molinari (70), Dane Nicolai Højgaard (69), France's Alexander Levy (66) and South Africa's Daniel van Tonder (65).

Samooja had a disastrous front nine producing three birdies accompanied by three bogeys and two double bogeys to make the turn in 40. He made another bogey at the 11th followed by an eagle at the par-5 12th and a birdie at the 13th before parring the final five holes for a 74, moving down into a tie for 18th at 4-under.

Italian Open 2021 R2