Poulter setting the standard

England’s Ian Poulter added a hole-in-one to his stunning opening 61 – but still found his lead cut to just one shot at the weather-disrupted Italian Open in Rome.

Poulter made a sluggish start before kick-starting his bid to regain the title he won in 2000 by holing his four-iron tee-shot from 200 yards on the 16th hole - his seventh – on his way to a second round 67.

It gave the 26-year-old from Luton a 16-under total of 128, just one outside the lowest sub-par halfway total in European Tour history, but was not enough to maintain his three-shot overnight cushion in an event reduced to 54 holes after thunderstorms wiped out Friday’s play.

Former Open champion Paul Lawrie added a superb 63 to his first round 66 to finish 15 under, with local favourite Emanuele Canonica another two shots back.

Canonica, aiming to become the first home winner of the event since 1980, delighted the large galleries with nine birdies in his 65, while Australian Jarrod Moseley was a shot further back after his second consecutive 66.

Argentinian Angel Cabrera is five shots off the lead on 11 under after matching Poulter’s opening 61.

Unlike Poulter, Cabrera was never in with a chance of shooting an elusive 59 - and his score will not count as a course record because of the preferred lies in operation – but came home in just 29 shots with five birdies and an eagle on the last.

Starting from the 10th, Poulter had opened with six straight pars before arriving at the 16th.

“It was a four iron, the perfect yardage and I hit it straight at the stick,” said Poulter, who won his maiden title in this event two years ago. “As soon as I hit it it was always going to have a reasonable chance and it pitched seven feet short and checked up and dropped in.

“I had one last year at the Italian Open (at the 14th hole in the fourth round) and another one in the Heineken Classic in Perth and haven’t won anything. The one in Perth came too early in the tournament to win 100,000 Australian dollars.

“But I’ll settle for a win on Sunday.”

Poulter then birdied the par five 17th as well, one of the two holes he could only par on Thursday when birdies would have seen him record the first-ever 59 on the European Tour.

After saving par on the 18th with a delicate chip from off the green, Poulter also birdied the first before dropping his only shot of the week so far on the second.

“I’ve been playing great for six weeks and now it’s continuing,” he added. “It’s always hard to follow up a 61 with a decent score and five under I think is pretty acceptable.

“I’m hitting it inside 10 feet a lot more than I was and obviously giving myself a lot more chances, and when you’re putting pretty well you can put a pretty good score together.

“I’m not afraid of anybody. I really don’t mind who I play with or what score they are going to throw at it. If I go out there and play good golf the way I have the last sx weeks and putt pretty well I think I’ll be fine.”

Lawrie picked up nine birdies and could easily have had two more on the par five 15th and 17th to card the third 61 of the week.

“I played really nicely again and made a couple of bad fives on the 15th and 17th but you can’t really grumble about a 63,” said the Scot, who won the Open at Carnoustie in 1999.

“It’s disappointing not to birdie those holes especially when you’re going in with irons for your second shot, and it’s two shots dropped you feel.”

“It’s not good when you go out on the course and you see you’re 10 shots behind after a good first round, but my attitude was good and I got a good score and gave myself a chance for tomorrow.”

Padraig Harrington’s chances of overhauling Retief Goosen at the top of the Order of Merit look decidedly slim after the Irishman finished 11 shots off the pace on five under.

Harrington needs a top-four finish to go ahead of Goosen before next week’s final event, the Volvo Masters, but is currently in a tie for 34th.

Collated scores and totals after second round of Italian Open, Olgiata GC, Rome

(Gbr&Irl unless stated, Par 72)

(x) denotes amateurs

128 Ian Poulter 61 67

129 Paul Lawrie 66 63

131 Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 66 65

132 Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 66 66

133 Angel Cabrera (Arg) 72 61, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 67 66

134 Miles Tunnicliff 64 70

135 Gary Orr 66 69, Thomas Levet (Fra) 69 66, Anders Hansen (Den) 64 71, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 68 67

136 Mark Mouland 68 68, Andrew Marshall 69 67, Anthony Wall 69 67, (x) Francesco Molinari (Ita) 70 66, Barry Lane 69 67

137 Niclas Fasth (Swe) 68 69, Alastair Forsyth 69 68, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 71 66, Peter Hanson (Swe) 68 69, Peter Fowler (Aus) 70 67

138 Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 69 69, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 68, Alberto Binaghi (Ita) 69 69, Markus Brier (Aut) 70 68, Christopher Hanell (Swe) 69 69, Brian Davis 69 69, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 70 68, Roger Chapman 70 68, Stephen Gallacher 69 69, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 76 62, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 70 68, Mark Roe 69 69

139 Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 71 68, Steve Webster 71 68, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 69 70, Jamie Spence 68 71, Padraig Harrington 71 68, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 70 69, Anders Forsbrand (Swe) 72 67, Gordon Brand Jnr 68 71, Sebastien Delagrange (Fra) 71 68, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 71 68

140 Peter Baker 69 71, Brett Rumford (Aus) 67 73, Massimo Florioli (Ita) 72 68, Tony Johnstone (Zim) 71 69, Eduardo Romero (Arg) 72 68, Daren Lee 70 70, Nick O’Hern (Aus) 71 69, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 66 74, Mark McNulty (Zim) 71 69, Mads-Vibe Hastrup (Den) 71 69, Gary Clark 72 68

141 David Howell 69 72, Paul Eales 72 69, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 70 71, Jonathan Lomas 71 70, Rolf Muntz (Rsa) 71 70, Mark Pilkington 71 70, Graeme McDowell 71 70, Diego Borrego (Spa) 69 72, Marten Olander (Swe) 70 71, Stephen Dodd 69 72, Jorge Berendt (Arg) 67 74, Gary Emerson 74 67, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 67 74, Philip Golding 66 75, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 74 67, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 71 70, Marco Bernadini (Ita) 69 72

----------------------------------halfway cut--------------------------------------

142 Richard S Johnson (Swe) 73 69, Richard Green (Aus) 73 69, Scott Gardiner (Aus) 68 74, Michele Reale (Ita) 75 67, Raymond Russell 70 72, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 71 71, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 73 69, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 74 68, Marc Farry (Fra) 70 72

143 Jamie Donaldson 73 70, Dean Robertson 73 70, David Carter 70 73, Warren Bennett 73 70

144 Tobias Dier (Ger) 76 68, Justin Rose 74 70, Lucas Parsons (Aus) 74 70, Ian Garbutt 70 74, Jim Payne 73 71, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 74 70, (x) Marco Crespi (Ita) 73 71, Adam Mednick (Swe) 73 71, Alessandro Napoleoni (Ita) 74 70, Grant Hamerton 71 73, Baldovino Dassu (Ita) 73 71, Stefano Reale (Ita) 74 70, Mark Foster 74 70

145 Steen Tinning (Den) 72 73, Stuart Little 72 73, Massimo Scarpa (Ita) 73 72

146 Costantino Rocca (Ita) 70 76, Marcus Knight (Swi) 75 71, Andrew Oldcorn 75 71, (x) Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 74 72, Marco Soffietti (Ita) 73 73

147 Chris Gane 77 70, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 75 72

148 Johan Rystrom (Swe) 73 75, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 77 71, Mark Davis 72 76, Marcello Santi (Ita) 75 73

156 Massimo Mannelli (Ita) 76 80, (x) Andrea Romano (Ita) 79 77

Withdrawn: Pierre Fulke (Swe), Andrew Coltart, Sven Struver (Ger)

Disq: Guido Van Der Valk (Ned)

Rtd: Gregory Havret (Fra), Soren Kjeldsen (Den)