Tom Vaillant kept up his form, Matt Wallace made a Ryder Cup faux pas and Filippo Ponzano announced himself in style on day two of the DS Automobiles 83° Open d'Italia.
Here is everything you need to know from Friday's play at Circolo Golf Torino.
Niemann leads the way
Joaquin Niemann was the man to catch after adding a 63 to his opening 64 to reach 15 under par. That was good enough for a two-shot lead over nearest challenger Angel Ayora and Niemann said: "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. I got it going on hole 15, I think it was, then I made a nice eagle also on the first. That helped me out to get that momentum and kind of take off a little bit. Yeah, it was fun."
Ayora's explanation
Ayora attempted to explain Thursday's eye-catching moment when he picked up his divot at the 11th hole and sniffed it before replacing it. While he was slightly vague on the details, the young Spaniard said: "A friend of mine told me that is good for the health. I mean, this creates something in your nose to... I don’t know, it's good, and also it's very comfortable to smell the grass. I don't know if you did that before, but you should try!"
Wallace breaks record... but at what cost?
Matt Wallace joked he may have put his Ryder Cup hopes in jeopardy after his course-record 62. Luke Donald's long-standing vice-captain Edoardo Molinari had set the record of 63 on his home course on Thursday and after Wallace went one better with a closing chip-in birdie at the ninth, he smiled: "I'm not doing my Ryder Cup many favours, am I, by beating Dodo? I should have just two-putted it or something."
Wallace and Niemann combined for a better-ball 58 and the Englishman insisted his playing partner remains favourite, saying: "I think if you beat him by one this week, you win the tournament."
Vaillant keeps it clean
Tom Vaillant was alongside Wallace on 11 under and is yet to make a bogey this week, adding to a growing recent collection of unblemished cards. "It was a nice round. Bogey-free again, so that's always nice," he said. "I think since El Prat, I have done six or seven bogey-free rounds, so it's always nice." Vaillant's maths were spot-on as well, with two clean rounds at the Barcelona venue in the Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship followed by the first two rounds of the Soudal Open and the same again here. "I mean, if I keep doing this, it should be good," he added modestly.
Pablo ready for the weekend
Pablo Larrazabal was relieved after making his first cut in ten attempts, since February's Qatar Masters. The Spanish veteran has spoken openly about the mental toll of his run of form and, after a one-over-par 72 saw him in with one stroke to spare at four under, he said: “I didn’t play free today, oh man! I was shaking more than any time in my career. On 14, from the middle of the fairway with a gap wedge, I pulled it 15 or 20 yards left of the flag, I made a bogey there and I thought ‘Man’, again the ghosts behind telling you ‘Oooooh…’. But I pulled it off in the end so let’s have fun over the weekend."
"It means too much to me to make the cut. Today I started very good, I started birdie-par-birdie and putt myself to a -7 total. And then we made a mistake, on the par three. They changed the pin this morning, we didn't figure it out and played it 15 longer. Then we three putted.… pic.twitter.com/moklHNPjAH
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 26, 2026
Ponzano holes out
Amateur Filippo Ponzano had a moment to cherish en route to making the cut in his home Open on his DP World Tour debut - the 22-year-old was almost in disbelief as he celebrated this hole-out eagle at the tenth. Well played Filippo!
Guido peppers the pins
Another Italian enjoying himself on home soil was the more experienced Guido Migliozzi, who had four birdies in his round of 69 thanks to some superb approach play.
