Italian Open gets new schedule position
BY Bruce Young | European PGA Tour | 2003 Italian Open | Preview | 30 Apr 2003
The European Tour is in Italy this week for the Italian Open Telecom Italia, which is quite a schedule change compared to recent years. Previous years have seen the Italian Open played late in the European Tour season but this year it gets what could be seen as a better chance to attract players. Only time will tell if it has worked.
The event returns to the Gardagolf facility in the Brescia Province in northern Italy for the first time since Bernhard Langer’s win in 1997. The course measures some 6500 metres and was designed by the British team of Cotton, Penninck and Steel in 1986.
The field this year has attracted Colin Montgomeire, in his first appearance in Europe this year, local Consantino Rocca, Ricardo Gonzalez, Pierre Fulke, Andrew Coltart, two time winner and defending champion Ian Poulter, Sam Torrance and Barry Lane amongst the leading players.
Australasians will include Peter O’Malley, Terry Price, Jarrod Moseley, Richard Green, Peter Fowler, Stephen Scahill, Lucas Parsons, Brett Rumford and Steve Bowditch. Many more Australians are filtering their way back to the European Tour and we will likely have a full compliment of those eligible for next week’s Benson & Hedges.
