Pablo Larrazabal was relieved to lay the "ghosts" of his run of missed cuts by making the weekend at the DS Automobiles 83° Open d'Italia.
A one-over-par 72, rounded off by what Larrazabal called "the best bogey of my career", was enough for a four-under-par total after two rounds to see him inside the cut with one stroke to spare.
It will be the 43-year-old's first weekend on the course since February's Qatar Masters and he said: “It means too much to me to make a cut.
"Today I started very good, birdie-par-birdie, and put myself seven (under par) total. But then we made a mistake on the par-three, they changed the pin this morning and we didn’t figure it out, so we played 15 (yards) longer and three-putted.
“I was four or five behind the leader and instead of thinking about it, I start thinking about the cut line.
"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
"It doesn’t matter how many golf tournaments you play and how many golf tournaments you win or you’ve been in contention – oh, man, I shake today.
“But I made the best bogey of my career on the last to make it. Not too many times you try to two-putt from nine feet, thinking ‘be careful, you don’t want to be three feet by to make it’.
“But my game is a lot better than what the numbers are. Now that we made it we have to think bigger, like yesterday I think I have lower rounds in my bag and we will go for it tomorrow morning."
Larrazabal had spoken on Thursday about the need to play freely but he said with a laugh: “I didn’t play free today, oh man! I was shaking more than any time in my career.
“I tried to play free but then the little overdraws were coming. 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 and go low because my game is a lot better than what my results say.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve played golf on a Saturday! It’s been since Qatar that I don’t play a Saturday or Sunday, so let’s go back to basics and let’s try to attack this golf course.”
