Dean Burmester kept in touch with a slightly less runaway Laurie Canter on Friday in the European Tour’s Italian Open as he carded a four-under-par 68 to reach halfway at Sebastián Muñoz Chervò Golf Club in San Vigilio di Pozzolengo, Brescia at 12-under-par 132.
Canter also carded 68 in the second round to go with his opening 60, leaving the gap between himself and the South African at four strokes. In the meantime, Ross McGowan, the 2015 Mopani Redpath Zambia Open champion on the Sunshine Tour, carded a second-round 64 to go with his opening 66 to slip into second place between Canter and Burmester.
For Burmester, it was a case of just staying in the moment, particularly if things didn’t keep going his way. “I keep telling myself to let loose, don’t have any control, stay in the moment,” he said. “Whatever happens, happens. If you hit a putt and it goes in, it goes in; if you hit a bad shot so be it, that’s just the way it goes. I think it’s paying dividends because I’m playing quite nicely so if I can keep it up I should be alright.”
Louis de Jager added a second consecutive 68 to his scorecard in the second round to move to 136, eight shots adrift of the lead. Bryce Easton was another shot back, reaching halfway with a three-under-par 69.
Justin Walters, JC Ritchie, Wilco Nienabar and Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent missed the cut.
McGowan was a European Tour winner in 2009, finished 12th on the Race to Dubai that year and almost made Europe’s 2010 Ryder Cup team. However, by 2011 he had lost his European Tour card and has struggled to secure his status since. At 38, the man who fought off Daniel van Tonder to win in Kitwe in 2015 knows how much a win in Italy would mean.
With reporting from The European Tour
