Molinari eyes off Italian Open double
BY Bruce Young | European PGA Tour | 2009 Italian Open | Preview | 06 May 2009
Turin in northern Italy is the host city for this week’s BMW Italian Open, the event being played for the first time at the Robert Trent Jones Senior designed layout at the Royal Park I Roveri Golf Club.
With the Players Championship in Florida taking many of Europe’s leading players this week, the field is hardly a who’s who of European golf although it a very evenly matched field with no particular player the clear favourite.
With no historic form on this golf course it might be that one of the members of the Roveri Golf Club, Francesco Molinari steals the favouritism. He has played very well in recent weeks finishing 11th last week in Spain and 3rd in his previous two starts. Molinari won this event two years ago so coping with the demands and expectations of a home crowd in his national open is not beyond him.
Francesco’s brother Edoarado Molinari, a former US Amateur Champion, will also play the event and with one or two recent good finishes on the Challenge Tour he gets his chance to also excel at home.
Alvaro Quiros is the highest world ranked player in the field and perhaps surprisingly has chosen to play this event ahead of the Players Championship in the US. After two missed cuts in the US at the Masters and the Houston Open, Quiros returned to Europe and finished 17th in his own national open last week. With wins in Qatar and Portugal in the past eight months he is developing into a class player and should do well this week.
Apart from a missed cut at the Masters, Soren Hansen has played very well of late and is more than capable of winning against this field. He has played very well against much stronger fields than this over the past two years and is expected to contend.
Charl Schwartzel returned to tournament golf last week after a break of more than two months and did well to finish 5th. He is developing a level of consistency with his game that should see him be once again in the thick of things this week.
Marcel Siem finished 6th last week in Spain and last year albeit at another venue finished 4th in this event. He might be a good bet for those looking for longer odds.
Several years ago Thomas Bjorn was one of the world’s leading players and in recent weeks he has again begun to show why. He finished third last week in Spain and appears on the way back after struggling for much of the previous twelve months. The nine time European Tour winner could well add another title this week.
Alexander Noren’s return to tournament golf will be watched with much interest. Prior to wrist incurred during the recent Indonesian Open in Bali, Noren was making solid progress in world golf. He is generally considered one of the brightest prospects on the European Tour and was playing very well prior to this enforced holiday.
The Australian challenge consists of Brett Rumford, Marcus Fraser, Peter O’Malley, Wade Ormsby, Scott Barr, Kane Webber, Gareth Paddison and Andrew Tampion.
