Antoine Rozner carded a new course record 62 at Adriatic Golf Club as he set a new clubhouse total of ten under par at the Italian Open presented by Regione Emilia-Romagna.
After a bogey on the 17th hole on Friday, the Frenchman faced the prospect of missing the weekend, but he birdied his closing hole to make the cut on the number and made the most of his opportunity with a stellar nine under par round on Saturday morning.
“Out of all the birdies I’ve made this week so far, the one on 18 yesterday was huge,” said Rozner. “I bogeyed 17 to be out of the cut line and I had no other choice but to hit the pin and make the putt, and that’s what I did.
“I got back this morning with the mindset of having nothing to lose. The conditions were lovely, the greens were pure. I took advantage of it, it was an amazing day.”
He made the turn three under after birdies on the third, sixth and seventh holes, and then made his fourth gain of the day on the tenth.
Rozner then played the four holes from the 13th in five under par, carding three birdies and an eagle on the 15th hole as he signed for a six under par back nine and a ten under par total.
“(On 15) I hit my drive into the trees, but luckily I had a perfect line through the trees to the green and I hit it to two metres," he said.
Making a huge jump up the leaderboard on moving day 🙌#ItalianOpen | @AntoineRozner pic.twitter.com/tHPeumtdLK
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 29, 2024
"Tom (McKibbin) hit the same tee shot but was at the bottom of a tree and couldn’t play. This is golf, that’s why we love this game and sometimes we hate it. Today it turned out my way, so I’m really happy.
“I never thought I’d be in this position after being one under after two rounds. I need a little bit of time to process anything. It will be a nice, relaxing afternoon. But I’ll be ready tomorrow and hopefully I can come back with the same mindset and shoot a low score.”
