Mcilroy moves up at Italian Open, two share Portland Classic lead
ROME:AS the sun went down at the Italian Open on Friday, Rory Mcilroy jumped to the top of the leaderboard, finishing his second round with a last-hole birdie ater play had been called off.
Northern Irishman Mcilroy was on the 18th green in fading light as the hooter sounded to signal play had been suspended.
He decided to complete the hole and sank his birdie put. He had also picked up a shot on the 16th in a five-under-par round of 66.
US Open champion Mat Fitzpatrick started the day completing a six-under-par first round to take the lead.
The Englishman opened his second round on the back nine and made five straight birdies starting at the 11th but made bogeys at the seventh and eighth to slip a shot back
With a handful of players due to complete their rounds on Saturday morning, Englishman Tom Lewis was one shot back in third with Frenchman Victor Perez a further stroke behind in fourth.
There were half a dozen players on five under, includingeuropeanrydercupcaptainlukedonald. Mcilroy improved by one shot on his first round. “I played a litle bit beter today, especially on the back nine. I took advantage of some of the more birdieable holes,” he said.
Overall, Fitzpatrick had seven birdies and five bogeys.
Frenchman Julien Quesne made a hole-in-one at the short fourth from 187 yards with a nine iron.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Esther Henseleit broke out of her LPGA rut on Friday, carding an eightunder par 64 to share the Portland Classic lead with American Lilia Vu.
Henseleit fired 10 birdies to build a 36-hole total of 10-under par 134 at Columbia Edgewater in Portland, Oregon.
It was a welcome change from the doldrums that had dogged her since a tie for 12th in Thailand in March.
“I had some prety rough bumps since Thailand, and it’s great to see something coming your way,” the 23-year-old said. “It just felt like nothing really came together.
“I’ve been working really hard and felt like every part of my game has been improving, but couldn’t really get the scores together. So yeah, just good that today kind of happened and I didn’t have to fight too hard for it.”
Henseleit said some “easy puts” helped her cause.
“Ihadmanychances,buttheywerenotgimmes,” she said. “I didn’t have a tap-in birdie at all.”
Former top-ranked amateur Vu had an eagle and four birdies in her first seven holes on the way to a 66.
The leading duo were one shot in front of Spanish veteran Carlota Ciganda, who signed for a 66.
Sweden’s Maja Stark was in a big group on 136 alongside Ecuador’s Daniela Darquea, China’s Zhang Weiwei, Japan’s Ayaka Furue, Australian Hannah Green and American Andrea Lee.
Stark fired a final-round 63 in August to win the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland, earning her fourth Ladies European Tour title in an event co-sanctioned by the LPGA.
She’s playing her first event as an LPGA tour member in Portland.