Freddy Schott will take a one-stroke lead into the weekend of the Italian Challenge Open after posting a four under par second round of 67 at Golf Nazionale.
The German carded four birdies on his front nine before adding an eagle at the 14th hole and at one stage looked like he would take a comprehensive lead into round three. However, he was forced to settle for a nine under par total after bogeying his final two holes in Italy, while Frenchman Damien Perrier posted a brilliant six under par round of 65 to move into second place on eight under par.
Schott has been in impressive form on the Road to Mallorca, currently sitting in 19th position on the Rankings, and he is now looking to take advantage of the increased prize fund on offer at the Italian Challenge Open to cement his place inside the top 20.
“I’m very happy with my work today,” he said. “My iron and wedge play was good but my putting could have been a bit better. I had an unfortunate finish but I had some luck during the middle part of my round so I can’t complain today.
“I’m just going to chill out and have a pool session later. I need to recover properly because this is such an important event for us, and I probably won’t hit another ball until tomorrow morning.”
The 21-year-old was delighted to make eagle at the par five 14th hole after deciding to leave his driver in the bag and take a driving iron off the tee.
“I eagled the 14th which was great,” he said. “I decided to be a bit defensive off the tee with a two iron because I saw two guys hit it left with the driver. I left myself 236 yards to the pin with a fraction of wind off the left which meant it was a perfect four iron for me.
“I tried to send it quite high so that it would stop on the green and then made a brilliant 25-foot left to right putt for eagle which felt amazing.”
Spain’s Ivan Cantero Gutierrez, the 2014 Junior Ryder Cup player, Sweden’s Christopher Feldborg Nielsen, Denmark’s Oliver Hundebøll and Norwegian Kristian Krogh Johannessen share third place on seven under par.
Home favourite Lorenzo Scalise and Sweden’s Jens Fahrbring share seventh place on six under par, while eight players share ninth on five under, including in-form Irishman Ruaidhri McGee and Englishman Jamie Rutherford.
The third round will begin at 8:35am local time on Saturday July 2, with Schott and Perrier teeing it up in the final group at 1:00pm.
