Four months ahead of the eyes of the golfing world being on Rome when the Ryder Cup rolls into the city, the DP World Tour heads there this week for the Italian Open, which will be staged on the same track which will be used in the biannual battle.
Robert MacIntyre made a name for himself on the Ryder Cup course when this tournament was held in September but due to that Europe vs USA battle he will look to make a successful defence of his title here in May.
Recent Winners
2022 – Robert MacIntyre
2021 – Nicolai Hojgaard
2020 – Ross McGowan
2019 – Bernd Wiesberger
2018 – Thorbjorn Olesen
2017 – Tyrrell Hatton
2016 – Francesco Molinari
2015 – Rikard Karlberg
2014 – Hennie Otto
2013 – Julien Quesne
The Course
We are at the Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome this week. This will be the fourth time this course has staged the event and it is turning into a stunning venue to host any tournament. The Ryder Cup doesn’t go to average golf courses so we knew without seeing it in play that it would be a belter. It was and you would imagine that it will play well this week as it looks to showcase what we can expect in a few months when Europe and USA go at it here.
The course is a par 71 with three par fives and the full complement of par threes. It measures 7,255 yards and has a number of doglegs on it which would immediately lessen the impact of the bigger hitters – very much in Europe’s favour for later in the year. There isn’t a course in Italy where you don’t need to drive the ball well to be successful and this fits that mould. We’re looking for solid drivers of the ball. The greens aren’t the easiest to find though, with many of them not visible from the fairway, so solid approach play is also required.
The Field
The European swing on the DP World Tour begins with no fewer than 10 players who sit inside the top 100 in the world rankings teeing it up, many of whom will be looking to prove their worth to Luke Donald ahead of the Ryder Cup. Adrian Meronk is the highest ranked player in the field at 63, three ahead of Victor Perez. The other eight top 100 players are Adri Arnaus, the defending champion Robert MacIntyre, Kazuki Higa, Callum Shinkwin, Thriston Lawrence, Adrian Otaegui, Thorbjorn Olesen and Jordan Smith.
This is a Race to Dubai tournament and a number of the top 20 in that particular ranking are in the field this week. They include number six Ockie Strydom, Jorge Campillo and Thorbjorn Olesen who sit at seventh and eighth respectively, while Sami Valimaki and Yannik Paul round off the top 10 players. Sebastian Soderberg, Marcel Siem, Antoine Rozner, Joost Luiten and Julien Brun are some of the players just outside the top 10 who will be looking for a big breakthrough for the season this week.
Market Leaders
Nicolai Hojgaard was the first winner around here two years ago and he is the 18/1 favourite to reclaim the title. This will be the first appearance of the Dane on the DP World Tour since the Indian Open in February but he has been competing on the PGA Tour since then. The obvious negative over Hojgaard is that he played in Mexico last week and has had to travel back to Europe and adjust very quickly but we know he can handle the track if jet lag doesn’t get the better of him.
A quartet of players come next in the betting at 20/1. They include the defending champion Robert MacIntyre, who failed to convert the 54-hole lead in Korea last week, Rasmus Hojgaard, Adrian Meronk and Victor Perez, with all four players hoping this is the first of two times they will visit this track this term. You can make a case for all four of them going well here with Meronk maybe the best suited to the test in front of them.
There is one other player in the field who is shorter than 30/1 this week. That is Jordan Smith, a player who is a tee to green monster who could easily be a part of the Luke Donald team for the Ryder Cup but whose putter needs to start coming to the party if he is going to win in this company. A T12 here last year is certainly encouraging and if the course is beginning to toughen up ahead of the Ryder Cup he could go well but he feels a little cramped on the price.
Main Bets
As with many courses in Italy, the test of this track comes in the long game department. Players who have gone well in the two years here have excelled in the strokes gained from tee to green department and with that in mind I like the former champion Thorbjorn Olesen this week. Olesen won this event in 2018 on a different track but he was T16 in September and has already won on the DP World Tour this season. He won in Thailand and comes in here off the back of three successive top six finishes. If there is a negative it could be that Olesen hasn’t played since February so he could be rusty but at the same time he hasn’t been touring Asia like some have in the past fortnight. Olesen ranks third on the DP World Tour for strokes gained from tee to green so if the Dane hits the ground running I think he could be very tough to beat this week.
Joost Luiten had an interesting week in Korea. He finished third but carded over par rounds in two of the four tilts onto the golf course. When it clicked for him though he went round in 66 and 65 blows which is certainly encouraging with him coming into an event where the course should suit his exquisite long game. The Dutchman was third in strokes gained from tee to green in Korea last week and as we saw in the two rounds when that putter came alive he scored very well. Luiten has a top 20 finish here two years ago and last season he opened up with a 66 before things went west. Off the back of a good spin last week I expect Luiten to carry enough confidence with him here to go very well indeed.
Outsiders
I’ll go with a pair of outsiders this week with Daniel van Tonder the first of them. The South African was tied for second here in 2021 heading into the last round but things certainly didn’t go to plan as he fired a 79 to fly down the field and cost himself a few quid. That effort shouldn’t be a surprise though because van Tonder has had some good tee to green numbers for a while now and continues to have them this season too. Van Tonder opened up the season with a third placed finish in the Joburg Open and has already won on the DP World Tour which makes me think that final round here in 2021 was just a blip. He sits at 18 on the DP World Tour in the strokes gained tee to green department and that sort of long game should have a huge chance this week.
Four places ahead of van Tonder on the strokes gained tee to green list for the season is Francesco Laporta and while all the home eyes could be on the likes of Guido Migliozzi and Edoardo Molinari, I fancy it could be Laporta who upstages them all. He did that in 2021 when he finished fourth here which shows that the pressures of playing for a home crowd isn’t restrictive in his game. To further clarify that, that effort was his second 10 finish in this tournament. Things haven’t gone great guns for Laporta this season with just two top 25 finishes in eight starts with neither of those efforts which saw him contending but the courses might not have played to his strengths like this one should do so with home advantage I’ll pay to see if being back in Europe brings the Italian alive on the course again.
Tips
Back T.Olesen to win Italian Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-7)
Back J.Luiten to win Italian Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 36.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back D.van Tonder to win Italian Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 126.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-8)
Back him here:
Back F.Laporta to win Italian Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 201.00 with Betway (1/5 1-7)
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