Molinari leads for now, Manassero chasing at Euro Masters
The scintillating form that won Edoardo Molinari last week's Johnnie Walker Championship continued today, as the Italian carded a fine six-under-par 65 at the second round of the Omega European Masters.
That leaves the 29-year-old 11-under for the tournament and atop the leaderboard, though yesterday's leader and the 17-year-old Matteo Manassero, his fellow countryman, is just a stroke behind Molinari having played seven holes.
Molinari carded six birdies on a flawless round to rise to the top of the table; indeed, the man whose performance at Gleneagles last week won him a Ryder Cup wildcard pick is yet to drop a shot here, at the breathtaking Crans-sur-Sierre course in the Swiss Alps.
"I think I played very well," said Molinari. "The greens were much better and I made my fair share of putts. It was a very controlled and solid round."
Molinari sits a stroke ahead of Finland's Mikko Ilonen on 10-under for the tournament after Ilonen carded four-under today. Molinari and Ilonen have both finished their rounds, however, while the superb Manassero is not halfway through his round yet, and has birdied four of the first six holes (he also bogeyed the 5th).
England's Graeme Storm is in fourth place, having completed his round on three-under today for an aggregate of nine-under, while South Africa's Charl Schwartzel sits a stroke further back on eight-under, having finished five-under today.
Miguel Ángel Jiménez is tied for sixth place on seven-under (three-under today) having played eight holes, along with England's Anthony Wall and Denmark's Anders Hansen.
But Open winner Louis Oosthuizen may miss the cut after finishing on level par for the two rounds, while Greg Norman's return to golf after a year out with a shoulder injury will not continue into the weekend, the Great White Shark carding a not so great eight-over-par that sees the Australian 149th on the leaderboard.
Norman was unfortunate enough to be playing alongside Molinari; the 55-year-old two-time major winner finished some 19 strokes behind the current world No. 15.
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