Il Nuovo Postiglione - Hojgaard twins hoping for British Open showdown

Rasmus Hojgaard carded a three-under second round of 68 to reach five-under for the tournament, three shots behind clubhouse leaders Brian Harman and Li Haotong.

Nicolai Hojgaard threatened to match him, but had to settle for a 69 and a four-under halfway total when a birdie putt stopped on the edge of the 18th hole.

"I saw him quite early on the leaderboard, and I kind of wanted to follow it up," said Nicolai.

"A little frustrated I didn't manage to get to five (under) where he is."

The 24-year-olds have both enjoyed brilliant starts to their professional careers, but they are yet to fight it out in the latter stages of a major.

"I'm going to root for him until we are on Sunday's back nine," said Rasmus.

Nicolai added: "I cheer him on and happy to see him play well, but I also want to beat him.

"But it's a good relationship, and hopefully we'll have a good weekend and maybe battle it out on Sunday."

Rasmus has won five European Tour titles to Nicolai's three, although the latter was part of Europe's winning Ryder Cup team in 2023.

Nicolai said in the past they struggled to support each other.

"We played some amateur events where we were in a play-off, and it was pretty tense," admitted the world number 93.

"But now our relationship is better, and back then we couldn't handle those situations. We can do that now. Let's see what happens this weekend.

"Hopefully we'll get a chance to play with each other."

The twins are also fighting it out for places at the Ryder Cup in September.

Rasmus currently sits seventh in the European standings, one place outside the automatic spots, while Nicolai, down in 30th spot, needs a big finish in Northern Ireland.

F.dAangelo--INP