A sensational four birdies in five holes from the 13th put Blackwood's Bradley Dredge in second place in the Telecom Italian Open in Milan.

Dredge joined leader Richard Finch on 12-under, but then three-putted the last for an impressive 66 to go with his first round 67.

That error was out of character for the day.

"I didn't hit the ball as well, but the putter was red-hot," he said. "It's nice when the hole feels the size of a bucket.

"I wasn't expecting to play as well as I am after two weeks at home.

"I knew I was starting to swing the club better and everything felt good, but you don't expect it to come out in competition. Hopefully it will keep going." English golfer Finch, 27, from Hull, playing just his ninth European Tour event, blasted a course record 63 to lead.

An eagle and eight birdies enabled the 2002 England amateur champion to knock one stroke off the Castello di Tolcinasco record.

It was the second lowest round of his life. The lowest was a 61 at Pyle and Kenfig in the British amateur championship three years ago, but after leading the qualifying stage by five he was promptly knocked out in the first round of match play.

Blond-haired Finch, 6ft 2in and nearly 14 and a half stone, is hoping for a better conclusion this time.

Three behind Finch following a 65 stood Paul Broadhurst, who had his first victory for 10 years at the Portuguese Open a month ago.

Among those to get in touch with the 39-year-old from Warwickshire was South African legend Gary Player.

"It's nice to get a letter from anybody, but to get one from someone of his stature is great," said Broadhurst.

"I've only played nine holes with him in a practice round for the Open at Troon in 1989, but he spoke to me in Qatar a couple of years ago and the letter said 'Well done - it's nice to see you performing well'."

Television commentator Peter Alliss was another to make contact, telling Broadhurst: "I've always admired the way you play the game. Not always technically, but for being easy-going."

Broadhurst shot an 80 to finish dead-last in Wednesday's pro-am and told his wife Lorraine to expect him home for the weekend.

He was staying, but defending champion Graeme McDowell and American star Mark Calcavecchia were not.

McDowell closed with a three-putt bogey like Dredge to miss the halfway cut by one, while Calcavecchia's eight-stroke improvement on his opening 78 was still not enough. It was not a pointless trip for the 44-year-old of Italian descent, however. Between rounds he got married again at Lake Como.

Happiest man yesterday, though, was France's Julien Van Hauwe, who won a BMW car worth more than £64,000 for holing-in-one at the 206-yard 16th.