Preview: BMW Italian Open

The European Tour heads to Italy this week for the BMW Italian Open. The Royal Park I Roveri is a new venue for this year’s tournament and a high-class field will be teeing it up.

Hennie Otto
Fergus Bisset
By
published

Lowdown: After five years at the Castello di Tolcinasco Golf and Country Club near Milan, there’s a change of venue for this year’s Italian Open. The Royal Park I Roveri near Torino will host the tournament. There’s also a new sponsor in the shape of BMW. It’s one of three tournaments on European soil that the carmaker is committed to supporting in 2009. Last year’s Italian Open witnessed super-low scoring with South Africa’s Hennie Otto just outlasting Robert Karlsson and a charging Oliver Wilson to win on an incredible total of -25. Otto will be back to defend his title but will be up against a high-class field that includes last week’s winner Thomas Levet. The charismatic John Daly is also in the line-up as he looks to make an impact on the European Tour. He’s joined on the start-sheet by the man he famously defeated in a playoff for the 1995 Open Championship – Constantino Rocca. Ryder Cup heroes Colin Montgomerie and Darren Clarke will also be playing in Italy.

Venue: Royal Park I Roveri, Torino, Italy Date: May 7 - 10 Course stats: par 71, 7,222 yards Purse: €1,300,000 Winner: €216,660 Defending champion: Hennie Otto (-25)

TV coverage: Thursday 7th – Live on Sky Sports 2 from 10.30am Friday 8th - Live on Sky Sports 2 from 10.30am Saturday 9th - Live on Sky Sports Xtra from 10.30am Sunday 10th - Live on Sky Sports 3 from 12.30am

Player watch: Thomas Björn – The Dane has begun to show some of his best form in recent weeks and, securing a tie for third in Spain last Sunday will have given him a huge confidence boost. Søren Hansen – Another Danish player who looks to be coming back onto his game. His first round 63 at PGA Catalunya could have been even better had it not been for a double bogey on the first hole. Francesco Molinari – He won this event in 2006 and is on excellent form this season. He could well make it two home Open wins come Sunday afternoon.

Key hole: 18th. The closing hole at any tournament is always the likely site of any drama. But, when the closing hole is a 507-yard par-4, the chances of last-minute swings of fortune are all the more likely.

Skills required: Adapting. This is a course that the players will not know. The men who can figure out its challenges and adapt to the layout most readily will have the best chance of victory.

Fergus Bisset
Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He has also worked with Golf Monthly to produce a podcast series. Called 18 Majors: The Golf History Show it offers new and in-depth perspectives on some of the most important moments in golf's long history. You can find all the details about it here.

He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly.

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?

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