The Azzurri aim high in the third seasonal event of the Italian Pro Tour. In the “home of Italian golf” – where the 2023 Junior Ryder Cup will also be held – the best of the Challenge Tour will compete, including Scalise, Pawan and Manassero. Pro-Am starting Wednesday 5 July
Golf Nazionale in Sutri (Viterbo) is hosting the Italian Challenge Open for the second year in a row, now in its 15th edition, and has been included in the Challenge Tour calendar. It is the third season tournament of the Italian Pro Tour 2023, which is a national circuit. and organized by the Italian Golf Federation in collaboration with official consultant Infront Italy, will bring together the best players of the second continental tour during the ‘home of Italian golf’ from 6 to 9 July. It is a special moment of the season in which each event could be decisive for winning one of the 20 ‘cards’ of the DP World Tour 2024, which will be assigned to the first twenty classified at the end of the year. Road to Mallorca (order of qualifying). The presence in a field of the first 19 classified on the money list confirms the importance of the race, which guarantees a performance of high technical and competitive content. The event will begin on Wednesday 5 July with a Pro-Am featuring the Italian Challenge Open, an event organized in association with the Department of Sport on the way to the Ryder Cup.
quality area , In a tournament that offers so many candidates for the title, the names of three Azzurri stand out: Lorenzo Scalise, number three in the rankings, Andrea Pavan (n. 8) and Matteo Mancero (n. 12), all complete are in full swing. ‘Cards’ and in great evidence over the past month in which he has clinched a title setting a record for Italian golf, which had never achieved success on a circuit with three different players in the same season. He will be one of the most anticipated heroes, joining Frenchman Ugo Coussaud (No.1), Spaniard Manuel Elvira (No.2) and others who appear in the top 19 of the Road to Mallorca, some of which we remember from the region In addition to Azzurri and Coussaud, there were 12 seasonal winners: Sweden’s Jesper Svensson, South Africans JJ Senecal and Dylan Mostert, and Zimbabwe’s Benjamin Follett-Smith. A separate discussion for Portuguese Ricardo Gouveia, the only player to win the tournament twice (2014, 2021) and one of three previous winners in the field alongside Sweden’s Joel Sjoholm (2017) and Mikael Lundberg, who scored in the first . Edition date 2007. Two Italians feature on the honors list: Edoardo Molinari (2009) and Matteo Delpodio (2015), while Scalise finished second in 2019.
Other Blues – There will be a total of 14 Italians in the race and among them will be Filippo Celli, another hero of the illustrious Blue Month. Roman, last year’s individual European champion, “silver medalist” at The Open, and who teamed up with Pietro Bovari and Marco Florioli to give Italy its first ever team world title, later transitioning to professionals, came close to the title in the middle . In June, Spain was defeated by Englishman Sam Hutsby in a six-man playoff. He can undoubtedly come back with the quality of his game and the great authority he has shown in these first appearances on tour. Lorenzo Gagli, Gregorio De Leo (fresh from third place in France at the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge), Stefano Mazzoli, Luca Cianchetti, Jacopo Vecchi Fossa, Aaron Zemmer, Giovanni Manzoni, Filippo Bergamaschi will also be at the start, all able to do well ., Enrico Di Nitto and Andrea Romano.
Pro-Am Event Prologue , The Pro-Am of the Italian Challenge Open will prelude the event on Wednesday 5 June, where 23 teams composed of one professional and three amateurs will compete. It will be played with the “Tour Scramble – Net Aggregate Team Score with respect to par” and “Use Your Pro” formula and only birdies, eagles and any albatross will count for rankings. Shotgun departure at 12 o’clock (i.e. all at once from different holes on the course). It will be an opportunity to preview some of the best professionals who will compete in the Open, including Scalise, Pavane, Manassero, Coussaud, Gouveia, Svensson, Mostert, Senecal and Hutsby. Amateurs include former footballers Lorenzo Maronaro, Giovanni Bia, Paolo Cristalini and Giuseppe Incosciati. Paralympic athlete Edoardo Biaggi will once again underline the inclusive and unifying nature of golf.
Formula and Prize Pool , The Italian Challenge Open, featuring 156 competitors, will be held over a distance of 72 holes with a cut after 36 that will classify the top 60 and tie for 60th place in the tournament. The Jackpot is 350,000 Euros with the first coin worth 56,000 Euros
National Golf Home of Junior Ryder Cup 2023 Not only the Italian stage of the Challenge Tour (second consecutive edition). Golf Nazionale is also preparing to host the first two rounds of the Junior Ryder Cup, a challenge between young world golf stars from Team Europe and Team USA, from 26 to 28 September 2023 (third round scheduled at Marco Simone Golf End Country Club, where the Europe-USA Super Challenge will take place from 29 September to 1 October). Designed by architects George and Jim Fazio and David Mezzacane, the route, with high technical and qualitative potential, passes through an evocative natural landscape amidst woods and ancient oak groves. Over time it has hosted several prestigious events including the World Cup in 1991 and the European Amateur Championship in 1992. The National Golf Course is also the headquarters of the Federal Technical Centre, an operational base for all professionals associated with the discipline. This is further evidence of how the development of all movement areas, not just the playing field, is one of the priority objectives of the 2023 Ryder Cup project. The club marries the principles of eco-sustainability with turf consisting of a new generation of Bermuda grass. It is well adapted to the climate of the Mediterranean basin and that allows you to overcome very cold winters in the best possible way.
Partner – The Italian Pro Tour 2023 is supported by DS Automobiles (Major Partner); Fideurum Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking (Official Bank); Kappa (Technical Supplier); Rinascente and Poste Asicura (Official Suppliers); Corriere dello Sport and Tuttosport (media partner); Sport Senza Frontier Onlys (Social Partner). OFFICIAL ADVISOR: In front of Italy.
In the photo: Matteo Mansero