Unorthodox Italian leads at Australian Open

She converses with the golf course and spends much of her round upside down, to everyone's amusement, but Italian Giulia Sergas had the last laugh in the Women's Australian Open on Friday.

One of the more unusual personalities in the colourful women's pro tour group, Sergas emerged from four hours of karma-tinged golf to lead by three shots heading into the weekend at Commonwealth.

The 30-year-old from Trieste added a four under par 69 to her opening round 70 to head Koreans He-Yong Choi and Soo-Jin Yang, who share second place at four under par.

Four-time champion Karrie Webb bounced back from a lacklustre first nine to fire a 70 for joint fourth to be the best-placed Australian.

Sergas believes her rounds are a reward for coming to a friendly agreement with the golf course - and at the moment the two are on fine terms.

"I try to establish a little relationship with the golf course, try to talk to each other," Sergas said.

"And if you listen well and you don't get caught up in your emotions then the golf course really talks to you - and when it's a difficult golf course like this one you really have to pay attention.

"I love that because it keeps me in the game much more, otherwise sometimes you just hit straight shots and sometimes you lose it."

Sergas has a healthy respect for Commonwealth - especially after her sand belt inauguration at neighbouring Yarra Yarra in this event 10 years ago when she had an "air" shot on her first hole.

"You better be terrified of this golf course because if you take it easily it's going to eat you up," she said.

Apart from the mental gymnastics, she is also regularly involved in physical gyrations, doing as many handstands as possible - with the help of her caddy Lee Griffiths - to stretch her back during every round.

"The main thing is it helps my back and it really "pops" when I do it properly, it helps tremendously - and I've been doing it quite a lot lately," Sergas said.

She got the idea from her trainer in California but so far is yet to learn how to do it on her own.

She does push-ups while Griffiths, holds her legs, but is past any embarrassment she may have felt.

"I tried to hide but they laughed, it's good. I really felt embarrassed in the beginning but then I noticed that people just laughed at me so I'm okay.

"Who doesn't have a bad back or bad posture, I just want to find a way for me to feel better."

Webb is three under the card after performing better in Friday's warmer conditions than the cooler weather in the opening round when she shot a level par 73.

"I had a bit better feel out there, my swing felt a little bit more in sync than it did yesterday," Webb said.

"My body doesn't really like the cold as much as it likes the heat so it was a little sluggish yesterday morning."

Webb said she was now feeling confident about her chances of a fifth Australian title.

"I'm only three back...three shots is not that much to make up over the weekend," she said.

- AAP