Constantino Rocca back to form with 69

Costantino Rocca, the man who beat Tiger Woods at the 1997 Ryder Cup and lost to John Daly in the 1995 Open play-off, suddenly reminded the world he is still around on Friday.

A second round 69 - 12 strokes better than he produced on the opening day - gave the 42-year-old Italian something to smile about after a season when he has hardly been noticed.

But a bottle of wine is the main reason for that.

At home in Bergamo Rocca had difficulty removing a cork and resorted to using a knife. Minutes later he was in hospital.

"I sliced the middle finger of my right hand. It was not nice and I had to have five stitches," he recalled.

"I sliced the tendon and it was a month before I could even start to hit balls again. Then when I did come back maybe I tried too hard."

Rocca stands only 32nd in the Ryder Cup table, but with so much money on offer this weekend - £350,000 of it to the winner - he could be two rounds away from sealing his place and setting up the possibility of a rematch with Woods.

The former factory worker beat the world number one four-and-two at Valderrama, having also won twice with Jose Maria Olazabal.

The abiding memory of Rocca is still of him lying on the ground thumping the St Andrews turf after sinking a 60-foot closing putt to force that play-off with Daly four years ago.

There were no repeats of that on Friday, but a spectacular run of four successive birdies from the 12th brought him charging through the field from 10 over to six over before he bogeyed two of the last three.

The blistering run began with a six-iron to 10 feet, followed by a wedge to eight feet, eight-iron to 14 feet and nine-iron to eight feet again.

He is one person hoping the wind stays up. It was in similar conditions that he did so well at St Andrews and he said: "Normally when there is a strong wind I play a little bit better."