A sensational back nine with five birdies over seven holes saw Shiv Kapur card a seven-under 65 and jump up the leaderboard to tied 13th, a leap of 40 places, at the midway stage of Italian Open golf on the European Tour here.

Meanwhile, Sweden's Robert Karlsson blazed the course with a 11-under 61 to take the second round lead with a total of 15-under 129 at Castello di Tolcinasco Golf and Country Club.

Kapur (70, 65) trails Karlsson by six strokes at nine-under 135 in a low-scoring event.

Delhi-born Kapur opened with birdies on the first and fifth and turned in two-under before going on a birdie-spree. He sank a hat-trick of birdies on the 10th, 11th and 12th and then added back-to-back birdies on the 15th and 16th.

Karlsson, the towering Swede was also in great touch and landed two eagle threes in his effort to post a 15 under par total of 129, just one shot outside Ian Poulter's record 36 hole total for the tournament in 2002.

Karlsson broke Joakim Backstrom's year old course record by a stroke and it also justified his decision not to play in this week's Players Championship on the USPGA Tour.

The nearest to Karslsson was South African Hennie Otto, who lost in a play-off to Alastair Forsyth (66) and England's Mark Foster (66). Both were at 13-under par 131.

The fourth place was shared by Argentina's Estanislao Goya, current leader on the Challenge Tour Ranking. He shot a second round 67 for an 11 under par total of 133, to move alongside reigning BMW PGA champion Anders Hansen, who carded 65.