Overnight leader Gareth Maybin reached the turn one under par for the day as the Northern Irishman fended off the home challenge of Francesco Molinari during the second round of the BMW Italian Open.
Maybin birdied the 15th after starting at the tenth tee and didn’t drop a shot before the turn to advance to eight under for the week.
Local favourite Molinari – playing his home course - was three under through nine holes and had narrowed the gap to Maybin to just two shots, with an eagle at the par five 11th the highlight of his round.
The 26 year old Italian was level with Argentina’s Daniel Vancsik and England’s Marcus Higley – who were through seven and six holes respectively.
