The Challenge Tour’s best players will face each other with the Azzurri among the favourites, in the third seasonal event of the Italian Pro Tour scheduled in the “home of Italian golf”, which will host the 2023 Junior Ryder Cup in September. Inaugural Pro-Am won by South African pro Dylan Mostert’s team
The Italian Challenge Open, the third seasonal tournament of the Italian Pro Tour 2023, begins on the National Golf Course of Sutri (Viterbo), the circuit of national and international competitions organized by the Italian Golf Federation, in collaboration with the official consultant Infront Italy). The event, now in its 15th edition and included in the Challenge Tour calendar, is organized in collaboration with the Department of Sport before the Ryder Cup (Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, 29 September – 1 October, Guidonia). Montecellio – Rome).
Taking place from 6 to 9 July in the “home of Italian golf”, the tournament promises to be of a high technical and spectacular standard. In fact it is a delicate moment of the season in which each race is of particular importance for the conquest of one of the twenty ‘cards’ for the DP World Tour 2024, which will be assigned to the first classified on the Road to Mallorca (order of merit) And the presence in the top 19 of this ranking and several other quality players who are still outside the “top 20” but certainly capable of getting there is not accidental.
The show was anticipated by the Pro-Am of the Italian Challenge Open, which was won by a team led by South African pro Dylan Mostert with “Minus 31”, including amateurs Maurizio Della Camera, Tommaso Cuomo and Fabrizio Ferrari of Andrea Pawan. Ahead of the team were (minus 30) Paolo Baroni, along with Gloria Luna and Edoardo Biaggi, the latter a Paralympic athlete whose presence testifies to how golf is an inclusive and integrating sport. Formation of Portuguese Ricardo Gouveia with Alessandro Calicchio, Claudio Civita and Ricardo Luciano in third place with “Minus 27”, Leonardo Incocciati in fourth place with “Minus 26”, Gianluca Terrinoni and Swedish Jesper Svensson’s team with former footballer Giuseppe Incocciati, and in fifth place with “Minus 25” is South African JJ Senecal with Massimo Caputi, Roberta Sciubba and Celso Lombardini. Three other former footballers, Lorenzo Maronaro, Giovanni Bia and Paolo Cristalini, are also behind, led by Lorenzo Scalise.
14 Blues On The Run – In a high-level field, as mentioned in the first 19 of Road to Mallorca, Lorenzo Scalise, No. 3 in the rankings, Andrea Pavan (n. 8) and Matteo Mansero (n. 12) could play a leading role . Those who have had one success in the previous period and who have entered the upper part of the “top 20” in an area which, if maintained, usually makes you smile at the end of the season. Of the other eleven Italians in the field, Filippo Celli has a good chance, having been overtaken by Englishman Sam Hatsby in a six-man playoff in Spain in mid-June, where he showed he has the right skills to emerge. is speed. Without neglecting 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, Enrico Di Nitto and Andrea Romano. A blend of experience and freshness that promises well.
In the field, apart from Azzurri and Coussaud, Frenchman Ugo Coussaud (N.1), Spaniard Manuel Elvira (N.2) and some of the field’s 12 seasonal winners attract attention: Swede Jesper Svensson, South African JJ Senecal and Dylan Mostert, Benjamin Follett-Smith of Zimbabwe, Welshman Stuart Manley, Englishman Sam Hatsby and German Maximilian Rottluff. to follow Englishman Alex Fitzpatrick, younger brother of Matt winner of the Major, who has made great strides and passed pre-qualification to guarantee a place in the Open’s field (Royal Liverpool, Hoylake, England, 20-23 july) .
blue sacrum – In Challenge Tour history, the Azzurri have achieved a maximum of three successes in a season, but never with three different players and in the space of a month, as this year at Manassero (Copenhagen Challenge), Pawan’s exploits happened with (D+D Real Check Challenge) and Scalise (Cascada Golf Challenge). Prior to this, hat-tricks came in 1998 (two Massimo Scarpa titles, one Marcelo Santi), 2009 (Edoardo Molinari’s treble) and 2013 (two successes by Pawan and one by Marco Crespi). There was a hat-trick in 2000 with Marco Bernardini, Massimo Scarpa and Adriano Mori, but the latter won the Olivier Barras Memorial, an unofficial event.
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