McDowell beats rain but Cabrera slips ahead

Graeme McDowell shrugged off a niggling hamstring injury to set the clubhouse target before bad weather further disrupted the Italian Open today.

McDowell carded six birdies in a flawless second-round 66 for a 12-under-par halfway total of 132, shortly before play was suspended due to an approaching thunderstorm.

Argentina’s Angel Cabrera was 13 under par and lining up an eagle putt on his final hole when the players were called in from the Castello di Tolcinasco course.

First-round leader Mark Roe carded a 69 just seconds before play was halted to lie 11 under par, alongside Germany’s Marcel Siem who fired a 66.

Heavy downpours from Thursday evening onwards meant no play at all was possible yesterday and the second round did not begin until 11am local time this morning.

McDowell was in the first group out on the course and quickly made up for lost time, picking up birdies on the first two holes and adding two more to be out in 32.

Three more followed on the back nine to leave the 24-year-old from Portrush on course for a second European Tour title.

“This is the first time I’ve felt this way about my game,” said McDowell, who won the Scandinavian Masters in 2002 on only his fourth start as a professional.

“I’m playing as well as I ever have in my life. My short game is where it needs to be to compete at a professional level for the first time.

“The putter is not firing on all cylinders yet so hopefully there are a few more birdies out there. I don’t feel I’ve holed my fair share of putts.”

McDowell, a member of the victorious 2001 Walker Cup team, picked up the hamstring injury while working out with personal trainer Adam Griffen, one of a team of people he is building around him.

“I normally do upper body work on Monday and lower body work on Tuesday and I think Adam pushed me a bit too hard,” said McDowell, who was third in the Portuguese Open last month.

“I don’t want to make too big an issue out of it, it was niggling me on Wednesday and Thursday but having the day off yesterday was a big help.

“I started working with him at the end of last year and have a psychologist to help with the mental side and Claude Harmon to work on the swing.

“Claude looked at my swing with his father at the Masters and it’s good to have him on the end of the phone to instantly have positive reinforcement.”

Roe is seeking his first win since the French Open a decade ago, and his initial anger at being kept out on the course in potentially dangerous conditions gave way to relief at getting finished.

“We timed that perfectly,” said Roe, who was disqualified from the Open last year after failing to exchange scorecards with playing partner Jesper Parnevik before a third round 67 which would have left him just two shots off the lead.

“I’m happy to get finished and hopefully we can get out there tomorrow and have a chance. It feels great to be in with a shout.”