Irish Open Diary

Forza Gagli

Lorenzo Gagli had every reason to play with a smile on his face yesterday — and not just for the second-round 66 that propelled the Italian on to the Irish Open leaderboard at Royal Portrush.

Starting yesterday with a spring in his step following Italy’s Euro 2012 semi-final success over Germany — which he watched with fellow Italian pros Francesco Molinari, Andrea Pavan and Federico Colombo in his rented apartment — “It was a noisy room” — Gagli began sinking birdies with the same ruthlessness shown by Mario Balotelli.