Tom Lewis believes his game is progressing well after he surged up the leaderboard on day two of the 2022 DS Automobiles Italian Open.
The Englishman has registered two top-15 finishes in his last three starts on the DP World Tour and continued that run of form with a fantastic six-under 65 at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club on Friday, having opened with a 70 on day one.
Starting from the first tee in the opening group of the second round at the 2023 Ryder Cup venue, two-time Tour winner Lewis birdied four of his opening seven holes to hit the turn in 31.
The 31-year-old made back-to-back birdies at the 11th and 12th before he recovered from dropped shots at the next two holes with birdies at the 15th and 17th to sit one shot back of Matt Fitzpatrick, who shot a two-under 69 to get into the clubhouse lead at eight under.
“I am definitely trending in the right direction,” said Lewis. “I've been playing well for longer than my results have been showing. I've just holed a few more putts recently and that's made a big difference.”
"That was a difficult golf course. It's obviously going to be a brilliant Ryder Cup golf course, and it rewards good shots and I've hit many of those the last two days.
"You have to hole putts. Nowadays the greens are so good but I'm actually shocked I played as well as I did. I thought it was going to play tougher than that. For me, it's just carry on doing that and hopefully I'll take 7-under par over the weekend and see where I stand."
Lewis’ most recent Tour win came when he won the Portugal Masters for a second time in 2018 and he is pleased to have put himself in contention to land a third DP World Tour title.
“If I can go out there this weekend and make aggressive swings off the tee, which I have been doing as a strength of my game and give myself opportunities, I've been rolling quite a few 15-, 20-foot putts in and holing some important par putts from inside of six, eight feet,” Lewis added.
“The more I do that, the more opportunities I'm going to have a chance to win and when I get myself in that chance, I tend to cross the line.”
Lewis credited his short game as being a key reason why his performances are on the up as he looks to climb up the DP World Tour Rankings in Partnership with Rolex in a bid to secure his full playing privileges for next season.
“Consistency has always been something I struggled with and something I need to learn,” he said.
“That comes with good short game, something I've struggled with over time, and it's starting to get better and starting to believe a little bit more in myself and that's why the results are changing.”
