Jannik de Bruyn made the most of his late call-up to the Italian Open presented by Regione Emilia-Romagna by taking the clubhouse lead midway through the second round.
The 24-year-old Qualifying School graduate was expecting to tee up on the European Challenge Tour in France this week before being informed on Tuesday that he had made it into the field at Adriatic Golf Club Cervia.
The German has made the most of the opportunity, posting consecutive rounds of 67 to top the leaderboard midway through Friday's second round.
“It was less windy,” he said after carding five birdies against a single bogey. “Yesterday it was quite windy in the end. I enjoyed playing without wind this morning, so I took the chance there. It was completely different.
“(The game) was actually a bit worse than yesterday. Yesterday I was hitting the ball quite well, I hit many fairways, many greens. Today I struggled a bit with the long game, but the short game was even better. I made a few good pars in the end and that balanced it out.
“I got a call on Tuesday actually; I was in France at the Challenge Tour event and I got a call to say I was in the field here. I was just looking forward to it.
“It was a bit stressful. I only played nine holes in a practice round. I just enjoy teeing it up here every chance that I get, it’s nice.”
De Bruyn was one ahead of Sweden's Marcus Kinhult, Spain's Adrian Otaegui and South African Brandon Stone, while out on the course Gunner Wiebe played his first 11 holes in one under to join De Bruyn at the top of the leaderboard.
