McKibbin off the pace as Wiebe leads Italian Open

Tom McKibbin made the cut but has his work cut out for him to get into contention at the Italian Open as the Holywood man sits eight shots off the lead.

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Gunner Wiebe sits atop the leaderboard at the half-way stage at the Adriatic Golf Club on nine under par adding a 69 to his impressive 64 in Thursday’s opening round.

The American sits one shot clear of Germany’s Jannik de Bruyn who made the most of his late call-up by remaining firmly in contention for a first DP World Tour title carding a second consecutive 67.

McKibbin was right on the cut line on one under par following a second round 70 to add to his opening round 70.

Three birdies and two bogeys for McKibbin, who will be among the early starters on Saturday as he will tee it up alongside France’s Antoine Rozner at 8:15am.

De Bruyn had been preparing to compete in a Challenge Tour event in France this week before finding out he had made it into the field in Italy.

“I was in France at the Challenge Tour event and I got a call on Tuesday to say I was in the field here,” De Bruyn said.

“It was a bit stressful. I only played nine holes in a practice round but I just enjoy teeing it up here. Every chance that I get it’s nice.”

Wiebe finished runner-up in the British Masters last year to secure a place in the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, but has made just seven cuts in 24 starts since, with a best finish of 41st this season.

The world number 568 had shared the overnight lead following an opening 64 and carded three birdies and one bogey in a second round of 69 which was good enough for the outright lead.

“The conditions were really tough,” Wiebe said. “The course is starting to firm up quite a bit.

“You just have to pay attention. There’s not really a shot where you can – I don’t want to say mail it in – but you have to be on your mental side from the get-go with how tricky the wind was.

“Arguably I might have played better today than yesterday. You can judge by score, sure, but I think the way I played today was a bit sharper.”

Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult, who lost in a play-off for the KLM Open on Sunday, lies two shots off the lead on seven under alongside South Africa’s Brandon Stone, Spain’s Adrian Otaegui and Denmark’s Sebastian Friedrichsen.