Sat, Oct 16 10 01:16 AM
A flawless 10-birdie round of 62 catapulted Ryder Cup Italian Francesco Molinari into Portugal Masters contention in exhilarating fashion on Friday.
Molinari had been so upset with himself after carding a two-over 74 in the first round he said he felt kicking a door.
Instead he bettered his career-best score by a stroke to come within a shot of the Oceanica Victoria course record.
His birdie blitz left him still five strokes behind the halfway leader Maarten Lafeber, but Molinari said he now felt composed enough to record his second tour victory.
"Two-over yesterday was just too bad to be true when I knew I was striking the ball so well," the Italian told reporters. "I didn't kick the door but I felt like doing it.
"The mind just wasn't ready to play golf. It was just lack of focus. The Ryder Cup was very tiring and I should have taken last week off.
"But now I have my mindset back."
A splendid day on the greens, in which he took only 25 putts, helped Molinari up the leader board.
While he soared, former U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell crumbled yet again. The 41-year-old 2005 major winner was full of optimism he could make only his second cut in 18 starts this year but a disastrous finish ended the New Zealander's chance of weekend action.
With just two holes to go Campbell was in a position to qualify for the last two rounds but double bogeys on both resulted in a five-over 77 to leave him level-par.
The cut came at a staggering four-under 140, only two worse than the all-time tour record.
Leader Lafeber, looking for a long-awaited second tour title to go with his home Dutch Open in 2003, included an eagle-two at the second on his way to a 67 to lie 13-under, a two-shot advantage over Finn Mikko Ilonen (68).
Portuguese Jose-Filipe Lima cheered his home supporters with a 64 to share third place, three off the lead, with Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin (67).
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