Jeev soars to tied sixth in Italy

Jeev Milkha Singh soared on the wings of a first-hole eagle and added five more birdies as he made a good upward move in the second round of the rain-hit Telecom Italian Open.

Jeev, who had a three-under 69 in the first round, was seven-under after 16 holes in second round, taking his total to ten-under with two more holes to go.

The Indian was tied sixth, four shots off the lead in a tournament cut to 54 holes.

Jeev, taking full advantage of the 'preferred lies rule' and putting beautifully, shot an eagle three on first and then bogeyed the second. He then added birdies on fourth, fifth, ninth, 10th, 14th and 15th holes to be seven-under for 15 holes.

The players are being allowed 'preferred lies rule' under which they lift, clean and place the ball on the fairways.

Meanwhile, Jyoti Randhawa recovered some ground as took some advantage of the 'preferred lies rule' to shoot three-under 69 in the second round play yesterday.

Randhawa, who finished second in Madrid last week, was four-under after two rounds and tied 53rd.

Playing his back-nine first, he opened with three pars and then bogeyed the 13th but was in scintillating form after that as he birdied the 15th, 17th and 18th and added a third successive birdie by slotting the par-first in four.

He bogeyed the second and then birdied his closing hole, for a 69.

At the top, Andrew McLardy added a second successive 65 to go 10-under and lead the field, even as numerous players were still on the course.

He was two shots ahead of Markus brier (69), Alvaros Quiros (67) and Joakim Backstrom, who was two-under through 16 holes with a total of 12-under.

In the morning, the organisers started at 7.30 am (local time) but had to stall the proceedings after 50 minutes due to rain. Preferred lies were used after that and to make things

fair, the morning scores were cancelled, forcing many to play a second time.

It took almost nine hours before Tolcinasco course was deemed fit for resumption.

The European Tour had after discussions with the Italian Golf Federation and decided the third round will be the final round. It'll be played in its entirety tomorrow with the usual 65-and-ties cut.