England’s Laurie Canter two clear of field in Italy after 68

England's Laurie Canter says he will need to keep the birdies coming in order to convert his halfway lead at the Italian Open into a maiden European Tour title.

The 30-year-old, who has spent the majority of his decade in the professional ranks on minor tours and made a fourth successful trip to the European Tour’s qualifying school in November on his ninth visit, added a second-round 68 to his spectacular opening 60 at Chervo Golf Club.

At 16 under he leads by two from compatriot Ross McGowan, with South Africa’s Dean Burmester two shots further back in third.

“More of the same, definitely tomorrow,” Canter said. “You can’t take your foot off around here, the scoring is going to be good, a lot of good players behind.

Jason Kokrak takes maiden PGA Tour win in Las Vegas

---

Rory McIlroy still off the pace despite fine 66 in Las Vegas

---

Harrington and Caldwell in the hunt at St Andrews

---

“I’ve got to go out and do what I’m doing and hopefully give myself a chance on Sunday.”

Canter got off to a flying start on a gloomy day in Brescia.

He fired to six feet at the second to set up a birdie and converted from 10 and five feet at the next two holes to complete a hat-trick of gains.

Another birdie at the ninth looked like setting up Canter to establish a commanding lead, but after a poor tee shot at the 11th led to a bogey, he lost his momentum before birdieing the last.

McGowan almost qualified for Europe’s 2010 Ryder Cup side after an impressive 2009 season but lost his card in 2011 and has struggled to return to the top tier since.

He reeled off eight birdies in a flawless 64, with Burmester signing for a 68.

Denmark's Joachim B Hansen sits fourth on 11 under, with last week's winner Adrian Otaegui and France's Robin Roussel a shot further back in a tie for fifth.

Jonathan Caldwell kept up his fine form by adding a four-under 68 to his opening 67 to move to nine under, in a share of eighth position, seven shots adrift of Canter.

The Bangor golfer dropped a shot early on on the par-3 second hole but would go on to make six birdies and card just one more bogey to move up the leaderboard.

Cormac Sharvin will also be in action at the weekend after a second straight 69 left him on six under but Gavin Moynihan will miss the cut despite bouncing back from an opening 72 with a 69 to get to three under, but presently one shot outside the cut that will not be finalised until Saturday morning.

Leaderboard

British and Irish unless stated, par 72 – Round suspended with 1 player left on the course

128 Laurie Canter 60 68

130 Ross McGowan 66 64

132 Dean Burmester (Rsa) 64 68

133 Joachim B Hansen (Den) 64 69

134 Robin Roussel (Fra) 66 68, Nicolai Hojgaard (Den) 67 67, Adrian Otaegui (Esp) 67 67

135 Adri Arnaus (Esp) 65 70, Richard Bland 65 70, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 70 65, Sebastian Heisele (Ger) 68 67, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 68 67, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 69 66, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 67 68, Darius Van Driel (Ned) 71 64, Jonathan Caldwell 67 68, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 67 68

136 Matt Wallace 68 68, Lorenzo Scalise (Ita) 67 69, Kristoffer Reitan (Nor) 66 70, Joost Luiten (Ned) 70 66, Damien Perrier (Fra) 65 71, David Horsey 69 67, Oscar Lengden (Swe) 65 71, Chris Paisley 69 67, Emilio Cuartero Blanco (Esp) 68 68, Wil Besseling (Ned) 65 71, Yi-Keun Chang (Kor) 70 66, Dave Coupland 69 67, Louis De Jager (Rsa) 68 68

137 Marcus Armitage 67 70, Nicolai Von Dellingshausen (Ger) 69 68, Jens Fahrbring (Swe) 70 67, Toby Tree 68 69, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 66 71, Guido Migliozzi (Ita) 68 69, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Esp) 68 69, Scott Jamieson 68 69, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 70 67, Marc Warren 69 68, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 68 69, Bryce Easton (Rsa) 68 69, Jamie Donaldson 68 69, Julien Quesne (Fra) 66 71

138 Cormac Sharvin 69 69, Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 68 70, Matthew Jordan 66 72, Adrian Meronk (Pol) 67 71, Dale Whitnell 68 70, Hurly Long (Ger) 69 69, Jack Senior 66 72, Daniel Young 68 70, Francesco Laporta (Ita) 68 70

139 Joel Stalter (Fra) 73 66, Jorge Campillo (Esp) 68 71, Steven Tiley 68 71, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 68 71, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 70 69, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 67 72, Marcel Schneider (Ger) 69 70, Lee Westwood 72 67

140 Eduardo De La Riva (Esp) 68 72, Federico Maccario (Ita) 70 70, Johannes Veerman (USA) 70 70, Renato Paratore (Ita) 71 69, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 72 68

141 Ben Evans 70 71, Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 72 69, Ashun Wu (Chn) 69 72, Mathieu Fenasse (Fra) 67 74, (a) Andrea Romano (Ita) 72 69, Daan Huizing (Ned) 70 71, Enrico Di Nitto (Ita) 72 69, Gavin Moynihan 72 69, Adrien Saddier (Fra) 68 73, Liam Johnston 69 72, David Drysdale 69 72, Victor Perez (Fra) 67 74, Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 69 72, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 70 71

142 Stefano Mazzoli (a) (Ita) 67 75, Justin Walters (Rsa) 70 72, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 72 70, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 68 74

143 Steven Brown 71 72, Jason Scrivener (Aus) 71 72, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 69 74, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 74 69, Ricardo Santos (Por) 73 70, Tom Gandy (IOM) 70 73, Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 72 71, Alvaro Quiros (Esp) 69 74

144 Craig Howie 76 68, S.S.P Chawrasia (Ind) 74 70, Romain Wattel (Fra) 71 73, Filippo Bergamaschi (Ita) 70 74, Giulio Castagnara (Ita) 74 70, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 71 73, (a) Andrea Saracino (Ita) 70 74, Nacho Elvira (Esp) 71 73

145 Wade Ormsby (Aus) 71 74, Carlos Pigem (Esp) 75 70, Scott Vincent (Zim) 75 70

146 Clement Sordet (Fra) 69 77

147 JC Ritchie (Rsa) 75 72, Jordan Smith 74 73, Wilco Nienaber (Rsa) 73 74

148 Benjamin Poke (Den) 80 68, Aron Zemmer (Ita) 72 76, Matthew Baldwin 77 71

151 Tommaso Perrino (Ita) 75 76