Trio lead on groundhog day in Milan

European Tour officials today took the rare decision to make players play holes twice at the Italian Open in Milan.

Heavy rain suspended the tournament for almost nine hours on the second day and the Tolcinasco course was deemed fit for a resumption only if placing was allowed on the saturated fairways.

And because there had been 50 minutes’ play without placing at the start of the day, that meant telling the 35 who had teed off earlier to start again.

Nobody took better advantage than England’s Richard Finch.

At 7.30am he birdied the 10th and parred the next two before carving his drive into a lake on the 13th just before the suspension. At 5.15pm he birdied the 10th, 11th and 12th – but then found the water again.

Joint runner-up in the event two years ago, the 29-year-old from Hull double-bogeyed the hole and finished the day on seven under-par, three shots behind leaders Joakim Backstrom, Markus Brier and Alvaro Quiros.

On the other hand, Japan’s Taichi Teshima, third overnight on the same mark, tried to improve on his bogey at the second, but double-bogeyed it on his return and fell back to five under.

The most famous example of holes being wiped out was the 1988 Open at Royal Lytham. American Hubert Green charged through the field on the Saturday, but all for nothing when rain led to a restart the following morning.

This time European Tour chief referee Andy McFee admitted that he wished he had gone for placing at the start of the day. Many players and caddies were amazed he had not.

“It crossed my mind but I have kind of been brought up in the school that people don’t want to use preferred lies if they don’t have to,” he said.

“In hindsight we should have put it on right away.

“It’s one of those where you are not going to please everybody. It will benefit some. I was at the Players Championship (in Florida) two years ago where it was done, so it’s not without precedent.”

Tournament director Jose Maria Zamora added: “The reaction was quite positive. The majority of players took the decision all right, but some didn’t think it was right.”

He named England’s Simon Khan as one of those who disagreed. Khan had birdied the 10th to improve to five under, but only parred it on the resumption and after 11 holes of his second round was five under.

Backstrom did not hit a shot all day, while Brier, winner of the China Open last month, picked up one shot and, after turning in 35, Quiros eagled the long first in the gathering gloom to make it a three-way tie.

Tom Lehman, last year’s American Ryder Cup captain, will start again at four under, while playing partners Francesco Molinari, the defending champion, and Raphael Jacquelin are eight and seven under respectively.