Golf: Lanner unable to follow his lead

MATS LANNER discovered what a difference 24 hours can make yesterday.

The Swede led by three strokes in the Fiat and Fila Italian Open after shooting a first-round 10-under-par 62 which shattered the CircoloGolf course record by three but he followed that up with a 77, slumping to seven behind at half-way.

The new leader is the little-known Spaniard Francisco Cea, whose 65 for a 12-under-par total of 132 left him two ahead of his playing partner, Padraig Harrington.

The day started off all right for Lanner when he sank a 10-foot birdie putt on the short 13th - his fourth - but he missed the 16th green and failed to get up and down, then began the front nine with two further bogeys. Three more followed to send him all the way back to five under.

Lanner, back in 41, said: "I played nicely at the start, but I struggled all the way home and by the end all my confidence was gone and I was just trying to hang on.

"It felt like nine out of 10 good putts I hit didn't go in, whereas yesterday they did."

Two days after partnering the Formula One motor racing driver, Ricardo Patrese, in the pro-am, Harrington moved into top gear with four successive birdies from the 13th hole to finish with a 66.

"I was getting very frustrated to say the least because I was not holing anything for 12 holes," the Irishman said. "I couldn't see the ball going in at all, but then all of a sudden things changed.

"I shot a 66 in the pro-am as well and I can't remember three successive days when I've struck my irons so consistently well."

Joint third on eight under par were David Carter, Gary Orr, Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez and Australia's Jarrod Moseley, winner of the Heineken Classic in Perth at the start of the season.

Seve Ballesteros also finished disappointingly. Having reached five under par, the former Ryder Cup captain had bogeys at two of his last three holes for a 71. It left him three under and for the second week running he was likely to survive the half-way cut with nothing to spare.

His playing partner, Lee Janzen, the reigning US Open champion, and his compatriot, Jose Maria Olazabal, the reigning Masters champion, both improved on their first day efforts to make sure they stayed alive.

Janzen shot 68 to move to four under and Olazabal a 69 to be on the same mark. That came as a great relief to him a week after he missed the cut at the Spanish Open.