Italian Open 2016: Thursday Leaderboard Scores and Highlights

Rikard Karlberg topped the leaderboard at the 2016 Italian Open after a heavily disrupted first round on Thursday, finishing at seven under par. 

Francesco Molinari trailed the Swede by one shot, but the likes of Danny Willett, Martin Kaymer and Matthew Fitzpatrick barely got their rounds under way while a number of players did not tee off at all due to rain, thunder and lightning that ensured little play commenced in the morning.

Here is the leaderboard thus far:

Position	Player	Day 1	To Par
1	Rikard Karlberg	64	-7
2	Francesco Molinari	65	-6
T3	Robert Karlsson	66	-5
T3	Adrian Otaegui	66	-5
T5	David Horsey	67	-4
T5	Jason Scrivener	67	-4
T5	Federico Zucchetti	67	-4
T5	Alejandro Canizares	67	-4
T5	Romain Wattel	67	-4
T5	Jamie McLeary	67	-4

Recap

Play was suspended early on due to the weather, eventually resuming around 9 a.m. CET (8 a.m. BST) with pairings initially delayed by an hour and a half.

The European Tour shared a snapshot of the conditions as players resumed action:

However, it would not last long—play was suspended again just an hour later with the weather worse than before:

Play eventually commenced again in the afternoon, and Karlberg set about producing a strong clubhouse lead.

Birdies at the 11th, 14th and 15th capped a solid front nine for the 29-year-old, and he made further gains in an excellent start to his back nine, picking up three more shots over the first four holes.

A bogey on his penultimate hole looked to have taken a little shine off an outstanding round, but Karlberg responded in style with an eagle on the 564-yard, par-five ninth hole:

Meanwhile, Molinari produced a strong showing of his own and earned three birdies on his front nine:

The Italian kicked off his return nine with three more consecutive birdies to cap an excellent round.

He and Karlberg have put themselves in a healthy position, but a number of those who will be hoping to contest the competition on the final day are yet to make a significant start—the top of the leaderboard could change before Round 2 is played.