McDowell quick off the mark

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell made up for lost time when the second round of the Italian Open eventually got under way in Milan today.

Heavy rain from Thursday evening onwards meant no play at all was possible on Friday and left large parts of the Castello di Tolcinasco course under water.

Tournament officials had hoped to clear the course on Friday afternoon in time for a 7.30am start on Saturday, but further downpours meant that was impossible and left greenkeeping staff trying to get the course ready for a 10am start.

Play eventually started at 11am and McDowell was quickly out of the blocks to move into a share of the lead.

McDowell, who won the Scandinavian Masters in 2002 in only his fourth event as a professional, birdied the first and second to improve to eight under par alongside overnight leaders Mark Roe and Gregory Havret.

That lasted only for as long as it took Roe to also birdie the opening hole, a 526-yard par five playing the easiest on the course at an average of just 4.167.

But McDowell, a member of the victorious 2001 Walker Cup side which has also produced rising stars Nick Dougherty, Luke Donald, Jamie Elson and Richard McEvoy, was not to be denied for long and also birdied the fourth to move to nine under.

Havret had briefly dropped out of the lead when he bogeyed the 10th, his first hole, but birdies on the 11th and 12th took him back alongside McDowell, and it was Roe’s turn to fall back into a tie for third with Mark Foster and Marcel Siem when he bogeyed the fourth.

Foster, from the same Worksop club as Lee Westwood, carded a triple-bogey eight on his third hole on Thursday but played the next 10 holes in nine under par to record a 66, and picked up birdies at the first and third today to lie eight under par.

Tournament director Mike Stewart had hoped to complete the second round on Saturday and play 36 holes on Sunday, but this morning’s delay meant he now had to consider his options.

They range from a 54 or even 36-hole tournament, reducing the cut from 70 and ties to the top 50 and ties, changing the cut mark in order to get a more manageable field or even taking the tournament into Monday.

The weather forecast for this afternoon was not encouraging though, with thunderstorms forecast between 2-6pm.

It could have been worse however, this week’s Challenge Tour event in northern Spain being delayed by frost on Friday and snow on Saturday.