Henrik Stenson's fine recent form continued on the opening day of the DS Automobiles Italian Open as he fired a flawless 64 to sit in a three way tie at the top of the leaderboard. The 45-year-old Swede, who is targeting a sixth Ryder Cup appearance, followed up his share of fourth spot in the D+D Real Czech Masters with a third place finish at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club last week. And the 2016 Open Championship winner impressed once again on Thursday, notching seven birdies and no bogeys at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club to join fellow early starters Kalle Samooja and Min Woo Lee on seven under par. After opening his round with back-to-back birdies at the tenth and 11th, Stenson picked up shots at the 16th and 18th courtesy of close range birdie putts. Further gains at the third, fourth and sixth took him to seven under and he parred his way home to keep his card clean. Local favourite Edoardo Molinari finished the day alongside morning starters Eddie Pepperell and Scott Hend in a tie for fourth on six under, one shot behind the leaders after a brilliant 65 that contained a hole-in-one at the short par three seventh to win a new car. Tommy Fleetwood forms part of the chasing group that sits at five under alongside Spaniard Adri Arnaus, who carded eight birdies in a row on his back nine after opening with a par, and Italy’s Francesco Laporta and Dane Nicolai Højgaard. Player Quotes Henrik Stenson: "Once again I think I played a good round of golf. I don’t want to make any mistakes early in terms of missing greens, so the few times I did I managed to keep a clean card and made some lovely putts to keep it tidy, so very happy with that. It has been really good these last two or three weeks, I would be lying if I said I hadn’t had good practice over the last couple of years, so it feels nice to keep it tidy and I have had a few bogey-free rounds – don’t jinx that now please – but it is kind of the same, we try and stay focused, stay patient and just keep on playing our game and improving at the same time. More than anything I feel like I am in a good frame of mind to play golf and to try and get the best score out of my game. There is still more to wish for, but we take the positives and keep on working on the rest. There is definitely a trickiness to it. A few of the greens are very undulated and they are quick as we play them now, and I think we are going to see some tough putting on a few of those. If you can’t put the ball in the right spot, you are behind the eight ball. We saw that in our group a couple times today and fortunately for me I wasn’t the one in the wrong spot, but it can definitely come up and bite you and it is still good conditions for scoring today.

Min Woo Lee heads into the weekend at the DS Automobiles Italian Open with a two shot lead after following up his opening round of 64 with a 68 on day two in Rome. The 23-year-old Australian, who claimed his second European Tour title and maiden Rolex Series victory in Scotland earlier this season, began the day in a three way tie at the top of the leaderboard but carded four birdies and a single bogey on Friday to get to ten under par and establish his first 36 hole lead on the European Tour. Lee has a quality chasing pack sitting just two strokes behind him, with last month's D+D Real Czech Masters champion Johannes Veerman, Ryder Cup star Tommy Fleetwood, two-time European Tour winner Mikko Korhonen and Spain’s Adri Arnaus in a tie for second on eight under. Major Champion Henrik Stenson and home favourite Edoardo Molinari were then among the large group another shot further back. Due to the threat of thunderstorms in the Italian capital on Saturday afternoon, round three of the DS Automobiles Italian Open will be a two-tee start U-draw, beginning at 07:30 local time. Player Quotes Min Woo Lee: "Very solid again. Didn’t make too many mistakes, made a couple of bad swings but the ball, it was going really far, and I didn’t really change the way I played, I just hit everything so long. Very solid, hit a couple nice putts coming down the stretch and happy to be in the lead with two rounds to go. "The pin is in a little funky spot on the top (17 green) and if you land it up top you are probably going to go over the back. So going back to hitting it long, we were trying to hit a seven iron on the bottom of the hill and I’ve just nuked this thing, and as soon as I hit it I said “sit down”, and it landed pretty much perfect, and at the time we thought it lipped out as well, so there was the cheeky grin because it ended up stopping. "First step will be to keep the umbrella in the bag. I’m not sure how it will play wet but I’m looking forward to the challenge." Tommy Fleetwood: "This year, especially the second half of the year, I feel like I have got off to a good start in quite a few events and then never really kept it going, so today was good. I didn’t particularly feel like, I had spells where I hit it really good and then I had spells where it wasn’t very good, so I guess that is the game but all in all, very happy to turn up after a couple weeks off and to have a great couple days, and now a weekend with it all to play for. "It’s always nice (playing with Francesco Molinari). It doesn’t make that much of a difference but at the same time, it is nice to play with someone you are very comfortable with and it’s always nice to see each other, and then we have ten hours together over the first two days to talk and play. Like I say, there is probably not another golfer out here that I feel as comfortable with playing so that does add to the ease of playing tournament golf.

Nicolai Højgaard has his sights set on following his twin brother into the winner's circle after firing a flawless 65 on day three of the DS Automobiles Italian Open to take a one shot lead into the final round. Rasmus Højgaard won last week's Omega European Masters in Switzerland to become a three-time European Tour champion at the age of just 20 and after making his huge move up the leaderboard on Saturday, Nicolai has an opportunity to make the Højgaards the first brothers to win back-to-back events on the European Tour. The Dane produced the shot of the day at the par four 16th, coming close to holing his tee shot for an unlikely albatross. He instead made a close range eagle there to add to the four birdies he already had on his card, and would head into the clubhouse on 13 under par. Tommy Fleetwood and Daniel van Tonder had joined Højgaard at the summit around the time he tidied up for par on the 18th green, but they each dropped their only shot of the day late in their rounds to slip back to 12 under. They share second place, one stroke ahead of Finn Mikko Korhonen in fourth. Player Quotes Nicolai Højgaard: "I'm really happy. I played overall pretty good. I wanted to get up and down on the 18th to post 14 under but I'm really happy with minus 13. "I am just trying to have a steady level of emotions. I try not to get too excited when I am hitting a shot or the other way around. I am just trying to be calm all the time and sometimes it happens to be good, sometimes not, but I had a really good day on the course. "I would really love to win. Seeing Rasmus win is a big motivation. I'm just trying to follow in his steps a little bit. Hopefully I can get it done tomorrow." Daniel van Tonder: "Everything felt good. The tee shots, irons into greens and I was reading the putts well. My caddie this week has her work cut out for her, she is reading the greens quite well and I am listening to her, every time I have been listening I have been making putts, so trying to do that as often as possible. "Trying to chill a bit afterwards. I have been away from home since the first week of May, so since then it’s been golf the whole time, so just enjoying the off hours of the rounds, so just chilling. “For me it is to just stay calm and collected, and take the bad shots when they come. My caddie will make me laugh and make me chill a bit, she helps a lot, so just go out and enjoy. Fairways and greens, and make putts."

Nicolai Højgaard held off a stellar chasing pack to claim his maiden European Tour title with a one shot victory at the DS Automobiles Italian Open which saw him create history alongside his twin brother Rasmus. The Danish 20-year-olds become the first brothers to win back-to-back events on the European Tour after Rasmus Højgaard won last week's Omega European Masters in Switzerland. Nicolai Højgaard came into the final round with a one shot lead and had found himself two clear on the back nine before back to back bogeys at the 14th and 15th wiped out his advantage and left him level with Tommy Fleetwood and Adrian Meronk going down the last. He arrived at the 18th tee knowing he needed a closing birdie to win, and he did just that - holing from three feet to finish the tournament on 13 under par and clinch his maiden victory at this level, with Rasmus joining him on the green to celebrate. Meronk and Fleetwood finished in a share of second place on 12 under just one shot behind Højgaard after posting rounds of 66 and 71 respectively, with Ryder Cup star Fleetwood also converting a must make birdie putt on the 18th green to tie Meronk's clubhouse lead before Højgaard had finished his round. Home favourite Francesco Laporta was alone in fourth on 11 under after closing the tournament with a 68 to finish as the leading Italian, one stroke ahead of Edoardo Molinari. Player Quotes Nicolai Højgaard: "It means a lot. I've been grinding for a long time and seeing Rasmus win three times made me want to do it even more. And to finally get it done is very special and it's been a great week here so I'm just very happy to get it done. "It's hard actually to make birdies when you're in front but you just have to grind. Everyone's going to struggle at some point. You've just got to keep grinding - that's what my caddie Christian told me. "That's what we talked about all day - keep going, we know the birdies will come. There weren't many birdies but one came at the last and it was very important, so I'm really pleased for that. “I'm very happy that Rasmus, his girlfriend and my girlfriend were around watching. I really appreciate it because I haven't been (able) with any of his wins to see him. I could only see him in the crowd. It really means a lot to me and it's just a very special day." "It's crazy to think of (being last man in). I had a bad foot before coming here and to get it done, it's quite a good story. I didn't see the back nine before the first round, so it's been a crazy week." Adrian Meronk: "It was really solid. A lot of quality shots. I'm very happy with my performance. Obviously a little bit gutted that I didn't hole that putt on 18 but still a great result. "I've been close a couple of times already. It's been the same story on the Challenge Tour when I played there - I was knocking quite a bit and finally got my win. "So I believe I can do it. I'll just keep doing my job, keep believing and hopefully it will happen."