The PGA of Italy’s Federico Elli lit up Round 02 of the 2017 Messinia Pro-Am organised by Costa Navarino with a sublime eight-under round of 63.

Elli began his round on the 10th of The Bay Course at Costa Navarino and said, “It started off good because I had a birdie on the 10th and then I started to feel better and better, and a lot more confident.

“I had eight birdies and no bogeys, so a very good round…and I’m so happy because since October I’ve stopped playing and started practising and changing my swing…and I have to say that it’s working really good!”

The Italian, who has a two-round total of 133 (-9) and holds a two-shot lead, added: “The courses are in great shape. The greens are really quick and bouncy, so it’s not easy to hole putts.

“I made my game plan before the first day, so I’ll just focus on my strategy and keep going shot by shot…that’s all I want to try and do.”

His closest pursuer is Ralph Miller of the PGA of Holland, who carded a seven-under round of 64.

“It went awesome [today]. I started on the 10th…and birdied the 18th to get to level par, and I thought I was struggling,” explained Miller. “We came up the 1st and I missed a three-foot putt for birdie…but at the par-four [4th], I’ve hit my second shot from 110 yards and it slam dunked in the hole for an eagle, which was awesome!

“The par-five up the hill [6th] – I hit a hybrid to about a foot, so I eagled that one too,” added Miller, who is visiting Greece for the first time. “I was on a run and it was awesome. I shot seven-under on the back nine…[Tomorrow] I’m going to try the same and see what happens…and have fun, that’s the main thing.”

[fb_plugin video href=https://www.facebook.com/PGAsofEurope/videos/1251053501628101/]

In third place, on three-under, is Emanuele Canonica (PGA of Italy) after he shot a second round of 69 (-2). Overnight leader, Paul Nilbrink (PGA of Norway), struggled in Round 02 and finds himself eight shots off the lead on one-under.

At the top of the Team Pro-Am leaderboard is the team made up of PGA of Great Britain & Ireland Professional, Stuart Boyle, and amateurs, Haris Papadopoulos, Georgios Kyvernitis and Daniele Bovio. The team have a two-round total of 179 points (-35), after their excellent second round of 92 points.

Trailing them by eight points is the team led by Steve Dooley (PGA of Austria), with Team Mejow (PGA of Germany) a further five points adrift.

Round 03 begins at 09:00am (GMT+2).

For Full Round 02 Scores Visit http://eur.pe/2017Messinia

————————

For more information visit the Tournament Hub Page (http://eur.pe/2017Messinia) and messiniaproam.costanavarino.com, follow @PGAsofEurope on Twitter and search the hashtag ‘#MessiniaProAm’, and like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.

Find out more about Costa Navarino at www.costanavarino.com.