Daly fit enough for fifth in Italy

John Daly has bounced back from last week's missed cut in Spain to begin the Italian Open in Milan with a five-under-par-67.

The former Open champion, now a lowly 609th in the world, shared the lead for a while, but finished his round in a tie for fifth two strokes behind England's Mark Foster and Scot Marc Warren.

Daly, on a two-week trip to Europe, has been having a terrible time on the US Tour this season, making it through to the weekend only twice in 10 starts.

He has scored lower only once this season, but said afterwards: "I moved the ball up in my stance and that was a good day."

The 42-year-old underwent stomach surgery a month ago and added: "This is the healthiest I've been in more than a year - it was brutal with the pain and it's nice to have my swing back."

He had five birdies in six holes around the turn, dropped a shot at the sixth - his 15th - but finished by getting up and down from a bunker for yet another birdie.

Warren, World Cup winner for Scotland with Colin Montgomerie in China last November, eagled the 526-yard first in his 65, while Foster grabbed seven birdies and did not drop a shot either in the perfect conditions.

They were one ahead of Foster's Nottinghamshire colleague Oliver Wilson and Swede Alexander Noren, but defending champion Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano managed only a 73.

Nick Dougherty was among the later starters, not sure whether he would score "67 or 87" just days after the funeral of his mother Ennis, who died of a heart attack on April 27th.

This week's tournament presents a golden opportunity for them all, of course, with nearly all the European Tour's biggest names away at the £4.8million Players Championship in America.