Andy DevaneyJoaquín Niemann will take a two-shot lead into the weekend at the DS Automobiles 83° Open d’Italia after producing the sort of Friday round that does not so much announce intent as quietly remove everyone else’s oxygen.
The Chilean, one behind overnight, signed for a bogey-free 63 at Circolo Golf Torino to reach 15 under par after 36 holes. It was clean, controlled and increasingly dangerous once the putter warmed up — rather like watching a man spend six holes reading the room before deciding to own the building.
Niemann began on the tenth and made six straight pars, which on this course currently feels less like a disaster and more like loitering with insufficient ambition. Then came a birdie at the 16th, the start of three in a row, before an eagle at the 1st gave his card the little thunderclap it had been threatening all morning.
Further birdies at the 4th, 7th and 9th completed a 63 and pushed him clear of Ángel Ayora, who sits two behind on 13 under.
Ayora Keeps The Pressure On In Italy
Ayora, only 21, backed up his opening 66 with a 63 of his own, mixing seven birdies and an eagle with just one bogey. Playing alongside Eugenio Chacarra and Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald, the Spaniard looked anything but overawed.
He now heads into the weekend of Italy’s national open chasing a first DP World Tour title, and doing so from precisely the sort of position where dreams tend to arrive wearing golf shoes and carrying a mildly alarming heart rate.
Chacarra, meanwhile, remains firmly in the argument at 11 under, sharing third with Matt Wallace and France’s Tom Vaillant.
Wallace Changes Driver, Then Changes The Record Book
The round of the day belonged to Wallace, who carded a 62 featuring ten birdies and one bogey. In doing so, he broke the Circolo Golf Torino course record set only a day earlier by hometown favourite Edoardo Molinari.
There are quicker ways to make friends in Italy than breaking Molinari’s fresh course record, but few more effective ways to climb a leaderboard.
Wallace’s surge moved him into a tie for third at 11 under, four behind Niemann. It also put him in position to claim the $40,000 prize pot, thanks to Nexo, should nobody go lower over the weekend.
The Englishman’s turnaround was particularly striking given his dissatisfaction with Thursday’s ball-striking. One driver change later, and the course was being dismantled with the brisk efficiency of a man who had found both his start lines and his temper.
Langasque, Molinari And The Chasing Pack
Romain Langasque went bogey-free to reach ten under, leaving him alone in sixth and within touching distance if the weekend becomes suitably untidy at the top.
At nine under, the group includes Jorge Campillo, Ángel Hidalgo, Frédéric Lacroix, Joakim Lagergren and Molinari, whose opening 63 had briefly held the course-record honours before Wallace arrived with a sledgehammer and a scorecard.
Elsewhere, Pablo Larrazábal made his first cut since the Qatar Masters in February. The 43-year-old followed an opening 66 with a 72 to sit at four under, safely inside the line for the first time in ten starts.
Niemann: “It’s A Fun Course”
Joaquín Niemann: It was a pretty slow start. I knew going out in the morning early, with good greens, I needed to go kind of low in the beginning and put a score on. It was a little bit of a slower start than yesterday, and then I got it going on hole 15 I think it was.
Then I made a nice eagle also on the first. I mean, that helped me out to get that momentum and kind of take off a little bit.
I hit great shots. I hit a lot of fairways at the beginning of the round, hit good iron shots, had a few lip out. I feel like I could have made two or three putts there if they didn’t lip in. I think just the ball didn’t go in like it did on the rest of holes.
It’s a fun course. You got to hit it pretty straight. You got to be on the fairway, and when you’re in the fairway, you’re able to score pretty low because the greens are pretty soft. If you are good with your numbers, with the irons, you can go at every pin, and you’re pretty sure it’s going to stay close to the hole. It’s fun. A lot of birdies.
Matt (Wallace), today, played amazing golf as well. Yeah, it was fun.
Ayora: “I Played So Good, Unbelievably Good”
Ángel Ayora: Today, as yesterday, but today even better, I played so good, unbelievably good. My putting is working pretty decent also, so I’m very happy.
I think, from the tee, this course, you have to be very good. If not, you’re going to be in trouble. And the greens, the ball is rolling very, very good. If you have birdies chances, you’re going to make it – I’m not saying that it’s going to be easy to hold putts, but it helps that the greens are very good.
Obviously, I’m playing my game, my golf, choosing what I have to do, but, of course, watching him (playing partner Eugenio Chacarra) in front, and watching the leaderboard, and watching him at like nine, ten under, it motivates me to reach him and to pass him and everything. But it’s always in a good way, obviously.
Wallace: “I Hit It Just Night And Day Compared To Yesterday”
Matt Wallace: I wasn’t happy with yesterday, so I have to start there, really. I didn’t hit the ball very well, didn’t swing it great. I practised hard all last week, and felt like I was in a good position, then came here this week, and we hit it bad yesterday.
So, I had some shots in there that gave me a bit of confidence to go forward, and then went to the range, found something, changed the driver – that was the most important club to change, I had a couple backups – so I found something that, you know, when I wanted to fade it, it faded, when I wanted to hit one straighter, it stayed straight, when I hit out the heel, it moved.
Yesterday’s club was going left, so I had to get rid of that. But then Jamie this morning was brilliant. He was like, ‘right, start lines – if we get our start lines, and fade it, and then if you want to start it left to not miss it right sort of thing’. So, we just went out with that and hit a great nine-iron into the first, and then I was away. Obviously, it helps holing some putts, which I did, but I hit it just night and day compared to yesterday.
I didn’t hit a great tee shot (on nine). I hit that necky one that I was talking about yesterday, but it did come back a bit. The one yesterday would have kept going left. I ended up in the bunker. Lay it up, and I get up there, and it’s sitting down, sitting in the hole in the middle of the fairway, and I had 80 yards.
To gouge at it a little bit would have popped it up, and I just tried to play a normal shot, and it came out low and it’s long. Jamie did a good job, again, stepping in and being like, ‘right, pick your landing spot, commit to the shot, let’s go, it’s an easy chip shot right to left’.
And I hit it perfect, and it went in. I’m not doing my Ryder Cup many favours, am I, by beating Dodo? (laughs) I should have just two-putted it or something. But if I didn’t make it, I think Joaquín would have made his putt, to shoot nine under.
A little word to him; man, he’s good (Niemann). Yesterday he played great. You know, he played as good today as he did yesterday, and he didn’t start how he did yesterday.
He’s a class act. I think if you beat him by one this week, you win the tournament. He’s like the top. They’re the people I want to play with all the time, and it’s nice to play well with those types of players, because that’s what you want to do and compete to win tournaments.
A Weekend With Teeth
The DS Automobiles 83° Open d’Italia now has a leaderboard with shape, tension and a pleasing lack of predictability. Niemann has the lead and the authority. Ayora has the fearlessness. Wallace has the course record and, apparently, the correct driver.
Circolo Golf Torino is giving up birdies, but only to those tidy enough from the tee and brave enough with their irons. The greens are receptive, the scoring is low, and the margin for hesitation is narrowing by the hole.
Niemann may be the man to catch, but this is not yet a coronation. It is Turin, it is the weekend, and the tournament has just acquired a very sharp edge.
