Robert Moran played a full 18 holes on day two of the Alps Tour Grand Final at Golf Club Monticello in Italy, but he still has four holes to go of round two and finds himself five shots adrift.
The Castle Golf Club man had played his first 14 holes in one-under before torrential rain called the action to a halt on day one, and further rain overnight caused the planned resumption on day two to be pushed further back and play didn’t get underway until 09:30 am local time and was further suspended at 2:36pm as the constant rain worsened.
Moran covered his final four holes of round one in level par to be one shot adrift of the leading duo, but two birdies, two bogeys and eight pars over the 14 holes he managed to get in in round two meant he lost ground as the soft conditions offered up plenty of birdie opportunities and with an all-or-nothing mindset for much of the field, players were quick to take advantage.
Italian Enrico Di Nitto birdied six of his 12 holes in round two, throwing in one bogey, and he now leads the way at -6, one shot clear of fellow Italian Jacopo Vecchi and Frenchman Damien Perrier.
Moran sits tied for 13th at -1, but having come into the week in 11th place in the Order of Merit rankings and with several of the players he needs to overtake to push his way into the top five higher placed on the leaderboard, he faces a fairly simple equation for the remaining 22 holes.
A win will take care of Challenge Tour promotion, anything less is likely to see him come up short.
Round two is scheduled to resume at 08:30 am local time (07:30 Irish time) and the third and final round will begin immediately afterwards in hopes of completing the tournament on schedule.