DS Automobiles Italian Open 2022: Form stats for this week's tournament in Rome

For a second successive season, the Italian Open will be played at Marco Simone Golf Club, which can be found approximately 10 miles north-east of Rome city centre.

Designed by Jim Fazio and David Mezzacane, the course opened for business in 1989 and five years later staged the Italian Open for the first time.

In a little over 12 months' time, Marco Simone will stage the Ryder Cup, which has never previously been held in Italy.

And, perhaps with this in mind, world No 2 Rory McIlroy will be playing in the tournament for the first time.

Qualification for Europe's 2023 Ryder Cup team began last week at Wentworth.

Course Characteristics

Marco Simone is a parkland course where water comes into play on nine holes, ranging in shape from ponds to streams.

Fairways change direction on around half of the holes, with some of the dog-legs more abrupt than others.

With tree-lined fairways, and an undulating layout from tee-to-green, the focus will be more on accuracy than length, while the ability to scramble effectively around these sloping putting surfaces will also be important.

This will be the 79^th instalment of the Italian Open which was first contested in 1925.

Rory McIlroy's Last Five Months

2: BMW PGA Championship - read the Debrief here.

1: Tour Championship

8: BMW Championship

MC: FedEx St Jude Championship

3: Open Championship

19: Travelers Championship

5: US Open

1: RBC Canadian Open

18: Memorial Tournament

8: USPGA Championship

5: Wells Fargo Championship

2: Masters Tournament

Four To Watch

Victor Hovland: The young Norwegian has enjoyed some solid form of late, despite having a low-key season compared to last year. He tied-fifth at Wentworth on Sunday.

Pablo Larrazabal: A two-time winner on the DP World Tour this season, the experienced Spaniard tied-eighth in Italy 12 months' ago.

Rory McIlroy: The 33-year-old's great form continued last week but his frustrations at missing out on big titles remain - with yet another near-miss, this time at Wentworth. However, another high finish this coming Sunday in Italy will mean he's made a fast start to Ryder Cup qualification, which is great news for Europe's skipper Luke Donald.

Adrian Meronk: A joint runner-up at Marco Simone in 2021, this season's Irish Open winner is currently a career-high No 57 in the World Ranking.

Latest betting for this season's Race to Dubai standings

Latest betting for this week's Italian Open

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MC* - Missed Additional 54-Hole Cut

Note: List Contains Leading Reserves