Rory McIlroy continued his blistering 2022 form as he went top at the Italian Open.
McIroy narrowly lost to Shane Lowry last week and captured a cool €18m at the Tour Championship in his last outing before that.
And the Northern Ireland man continued to impress as he put himself top of the leaderboard ahead of US Open Champion Matt Fitzpatrick.
It was a steady start for McIlroy has he parred his first four holes and picked up a birdie on five.
And McIlroy bounced back from a bogey on eight with a birdie on nine before storming up the leaderboard with a birdie on 11 and an eagle on the Par Five twelfth hole.
Three birdies on the final five holes meant McIlroy finished with a five under round 66 and if it weren't for three bogeys on the day he would have been home hosed at the top.
Matt Fitzpatrick shot a three under par round to fit in second place and the pair will go around together on Saturday.
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