Paul McGinley, a man with vast experience of playing in windy conditions, was using that nous to full effect and swept to the top of the Volvo Masters leaderboard today.
This year’s Wales Open winner looked comfortable in the blustery conditions at the Montecastillo course, collecting three birdies on the front nine and moving to nine-under par.
McGinley leads by two from the early clubhouse leader Mathias Gronberg, who negotiated two eagles in his front nine - third and ninth - in his round of 67.
The Irish are dominating the leaderboard as Darren Clarke was determined to make another mark on an event he won in 1998.
Clarke added a 68 to his opening 70 and moved into a share of third place on six-under with four others including Padraig Harrington.
"It was difficult out there today and a 68 was pretty good considering the difficulty of the conditions," said Clarke.
He also highlighted the importance of a solid putting stroke in windy conditions, "I holed a couple of nice 15-footers but several three-putts took the gloss of the round."
Five birdies and just the one dropped shot at the second, "gives me a good chance to contend over the weekend," said Clarke.
Harrington was one-under for his round after 11 holes to join his fellow countryman and two Australian’s, left-hander Nick O’Hern and Peter Lonard.