By Steven Franklin
Press Officer, European Seniors Tour

Sam Torrance’s bid to retain the Sharp Italian Seniors Open title suffered a blow today due to an unlikely side-effect of the Scot’s attempts to give up smoking.
Torrance, famous for his penchant for large cigars, quit the habit three weeks ago and has been furiously chewing Nicotine gum ever since.
However, in the early hours of Saturday morning he was woken by toothache and had to visit a dentist on the Venetian island of Lido before his second round.
He returned to Circolo Golf Venezia and carded a second consecutive round of two under par 70 on a day when many others were shooting the lights out.
Unheralded American John Benda made the most of the perfect scoring conditions by firing a new course record of nine-under-par 63 and, at 10-under-par 134 for 36 holes, will take a one stroke lead into Sunday’s final round as he chases his first European Seniors Tour victory.
New Zealander Simon Owen shot 65 and is second on nine under par, but Torrance, back on four under, still believes he can make up the gap on the leaders and win the title for a second year in a row.
“If I can shoot 63 tomorrow then John will have to shoot 69 – I just have to do it,” he said. “It was frustrating today. I had a terrible night because of my teeth and had to have a filling sorted out this morning. It’s all because of the amount of gum I have been chewing these past three weeks.”
Of course, Sam Torrance is not the only Scot competing on the seniors tour. Let's not forget rookie Ross Drummond. He shot 70 and 69 for 139 to be one ahead of Sam and sharing fourth place with Nick Job.
Second round scores and totals
Par 144 (2 x 72)
134 John Benda (US) 71 63.
135 Simon Owen (NZ) 70 65.
137 Tony Allen (Eng) 71 66.
139 Nick Job (Eng) 70 69, Ross Drummond (Sco) 70 69
140 José Rivero (Esp) 71 69, Sam Torrance (Sco) 70 70
141 Horacio Carbonetti (Arg) 70 71
142 Gordon J Brand (Eng) 72 70, Bob Cameron (Eng) 67 75, Stewart Ginn (Aus) 70 72, David J Russell (Eng) 72 70, Bruce Heuchan (Can) 73 69, Doug Johnson (US) 72 70
143 Carl Mason (Eng) 70 73, Tony Charnley (Eng) 70 73, Gavan Levenson (SAf) 72 71, Giuseppe Cali (Ita) 71 72
144 Ronald Stelten (USA) 73 71, Bobby Lincoln (RSA) 74 70, Costantino Rocca (Ita) 72 72, Jean Pierre Sallat (Fra) 73 71, Ray Carrasco (US) 72 72, Bill Longmuir (Sco) 71 73
145 David Merriman (Aus) 71 74, Kevin Spurgeon (Eng) 72 73, Adan Sowa (Arg) 72 73, John Mashego (RSA) 72 73, Delroy Cambridge (Jam) 74 71, John Chillas (Sco) 75 70
146 Martin Poxon (Eng) 73 73, Jerry Bruner (US) 72 74, Ian Mosey (Eng) 75 71, Glenn Ralph (Eng) 72 74, Peter Teravainen (US) 73 73
147 David Good (Aus) 74 73, Noel Ratcliffe (Aus) 76 71, Terry Gale (Aus) 74 73, Guillermo Encina (Chi) 74 73, Jimmy Heggarty (NIr) 74 73, Gery Watine (Fra) 74 73, Jim Lapsley (Nzl) 72 75, Tommy Horton (Eng) 76 71
148 Denis Durnian (Eng) 73 75, Jim Rhodes (Eng) 71 77, Denis O'sullivan (Irl) 76 72
149 Adriano Mori (Ita) 76 73, Bertus Smit (SAf) 75 74, Luis Carbonetti (Arg) 79 70, Baldovino Dassu (Ita) 75 74
150 Manuel Piñero (Spa) 72 78, Emilio Rodriguez (Spa) 74 76, Tim Rastall (Eng) 78 72
150 Pete Oakley (US) 75 75
151 Mike Ferguson (Aus) 74 77, Terry Dill (US) 77 74, Philippe Dugeny (Fra) 71 80
152 Bob Larratt (Eng) 75 77, Martin Gray (Sco) 74 78, Maurice Bembridge (Eng) 78 74, Angel Fernandez (Chi) 76 76
153 Bob Lendzion (US) 77 76, Mike Miller (Sco) 77 76
155 Antonio Garrido (Esp) 78 77
156 Gary Wintz (US) 80 76, Steve Martin (Sco) 76 80
158 Bill Hardwick (Can) 79 79
160 Stefano Betti (Ita) 78 82
161 Alberto Croce (Ita) 77 84
162 Neville Clarke (Rsa) 74 88
164 Romolo Napoleoni (Ita) 85 79
Ret’d Eddie Polland (NIr) 80