As with everybody else in that envious position so far, it never did happen, but setting a new course record of 61 and equalling the lowest round of his 20-year Tour career was good enough for the Swedish Ryder Cup star.

Having opted for the relatively low-key Italian Open rather than golf's richest event - and that despite finishing sixth in the Players Championship last year - Karlsson leads by two from England's Mark Foster and South African Hennie Otto at halfway.

His round at Castello di Tolcinasco just south of Milan even included a drive into water on the 433-yard 13th, his fourth.

But the 38-year-old, who had started with three successive birdies, then eagled the 15th and first with putts of 30 and 20 feet and when he birdied four of the next six holes, he was 10 under for the day.

That meant a birdie-eagle finish on the short eighth and 513-yard ninth would bring that 59.

"It did cross my mind, but I've had some problems on eight in the past - I was pretty happy with a three there," he said.

A closing 10-foot birdie putt gave Karlsson a 15-under total which matches the third lowest in Tour history for 36 holes and now his sights are on a win which would lift him from eighth to sixth in the Ryder Cup race.

The money on offer may not compare to Sawgrass - £1.3million against £4.8million - but victory will bring him 24 world ranking points and that is the same as finishing fourth in Florida.

"It's obviously not right. As an achievement it's not even close, but it's good for the European Tour and if I can pull off the win here it'll be good for me too," Karlsson added.

He would have gone to Florida if he had known he was in the field earlier, but confusion over whether the cut-off point for the world's top 50 was this Monday or the previous one made him decide to stay in Europe.

Karlsson, currently ranked 48th, added: "There are many plusses to coming here. It cuts down on the travelling and I get to see the kids on Monday too before going to Ireland."

Otto, battling to regain a full Tour card, added a 66 to his opening 65, while Foster hit back from a double bogey with two birdies in his last three holes for a 66.

Nick Dougherty, just three days on from his mother's funeral, lost a ball and also took six on the par-four sixth, but he was still round in 66 for seven under.

John Daly, however, managed to follow up his 67 with only a 73 for four under and had to wait for confirmation that he had survived the cut.

It was 7pm when Daly discovered he would be involved in the final two rounds for only the third time in 12 starts this season.

Former Ryder Cup player Peter Baker made it through with nothing to spare as well after a dramatic 18th hole when he drove into the lake and then sank a 174-yard seven-iron for a birdie three.

From Mark Garrod, PA Sport Golf Correspondent, Milan

ALL THE FINAL ROUND SCORES
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

129 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 68 61

131 Hennie Otto (RSA) 65 66, Mark Foster 65 66

133 Anders Hansen (Den) 68 65, Estanislao Goya (Arg) 66 67

134 Christian Nilsson (Swe) 67 67, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 70 64, Marco Ruiz (Par) 64 70, Phillip Archer 70 64, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 68 66, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 67 67, Bradley Dredge 69 65

135 Steve Webster 66 69, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 70 65, Marc Warren 65 70, Oliver Wilson 66 69, Sam Little 69 66, David Lynn 68 67, Ross McGowan 64 71

136 Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 66, Doug McGuigan 68 68, Ben Mason 68 68, Paul Broadhurst 69 67, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 67 69

137 Paul Waring 70 67, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 66 71, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 71 66, Nick Dougherty 71 66, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 67 70, Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 69 68, Alexander Noren (Swe) 66 71, Lorenzo null Gagli (Ita) 71 66, Miles Tunnicliff 69 68, Gregory Havret (Fra) 70 67

138 Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 68 70, Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 70 68, Gary Orr 69 69, Matthew Millar (Aus) 68 70, Marco Soffietti (Ita) 72 66, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 67 71, Mark Pilkington 74 64, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 71 67, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 66 72, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 68 70, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 67 71, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 68 70

139 Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 66 73, David Frost (Rsa) 71 68, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 69 70, Lee Slattery 71 68, Scott Barr (Aus) 70 69, Federico Colombo (Ita) 69 70, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 67 72, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 69 70, Santiago Luna (Spa) 71 68, Richard Bland 68 71, Jan Are Larsen (Nor) 69 70, Renaud Guillard (Fra) 72 67, Nunzio Lombardi (Ita) 68 71, Gareth Paddison (Nzl) 67 72, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 66 73, James Kamte (Rsa) 69 70, Thomas Levet (Fra) 69 70

140 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 71 69, Claudio Vigano (Ita) 75 65, Martin Wiegele (Aut) 71 69, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 67 73, Peter Baker 69 71, David Park 70 70, John Daly (USA) 67 73, Gary Clark 71 69, Robert Rock 71 69, Pedro Linhart (Spa) 70 70, Stephen Dodd 72 68, Alastair Forsyth 74 66, Ian Garbutt 73 67

-----------------------Following players missed the cut----------------------------

141 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 70 71, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 70 71, Juan Abbate (Arg) 70 71, Zane Scotland 72 69, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 69 72, Sion Bebb 70 71, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 69 72, Steven O'Hara 72 69, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 72 69, Anthony Wall 70 71, Lee S James 70 71, Stephen Gallacher 72 69

142 George Murray 69 73, Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 68 74, Kyron Sullivan 72 70, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 70 72, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 74 68, Iain Pyman 74 68, Christiano Terragni (Ita) 70 72, Peter Fowler (Aus) 72 70, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 72 70, Andrea Perrino (Ita) 70 72, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 71 71

143 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 72 71, Garry Houston 71 72, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 74 69, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 70 73, Gary Lockerbie 71 72, Andrew McArthur 71 72, Antti Ahokas (Fin) 72 71, Alfredo Garcia (Spa) 71 72, Florian Praegant (Aut) 70 73, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 75 68, Philip Golding 73 70

144 Miguel Rodriguez (Arg) 75 69, Gregory Molteni (Ita) 72 72, Steve Alker (Nzl) 75 69, Liam Bond 72 72, Matthew Cort 73 71, Julio Zapata (Arg) 70 74, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 73 71, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 74 70

145 Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 71 74, Marco Crespi (Ita) 74 71, David Griffiths 74 71, Luis Claverie (Spa) 72 73, Robert Coles 71 74, Stuart Manley 78 67, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 72 73, Scott Drummond 77 68, Jim Payne 74 71, Andrea Zanini (Ita) 76 69, Benoit Teilleria (Fra) 75 70, Alessio Bruschi (Ita) 71 74

146 Raphael Eyraud (Fra) 73 73, Craig Lee 72 74, Paolo Terreni (Ita) 75 71, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 76 70, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 76 70, Tiago Cruz (Por) 75 71, David Drysdale 73 73, Sven Struver (Ger) 70 76, David Dixon 71 75, Markus Brier (Aut) 76 70, Michele Reale (Ita) 73 73

147 Alessandro Napoleoni (Ita) 73 74

148 Giorgio Grillo (Ita) 73 75, Richie Ramsay 73 75, Sam Walker 73 75, Ariel Canete (Arg) 72 76

149 Anton Haig (Rsa) 75 74, Nicola Maestroni (Ita) 76 73, Tom Whitehouse 75 74, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 76 73

150 Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 77 73

151 Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 78 73

156 Costantino Rocca (Ita) 79 77

157 Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 81 76