Italian Open: The Punter's Preview

• Could form in Sweden count in Italy?

• Read my Rocket Mortgage Classic preview here

Tournament History

The Italian Open was first staged way back in 1925 and this is the 81^st edition. It's been a permanent fixture on the DP World Tour ever since its inception in 1972.

The Italian Open is largely a nomadic event and after three consecutive renewals at last year's Ryder Cup venue, the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, the tournament moves to the Adriatic Golf Club Cervia in the northern city of Ravenna for the very first time.

Venue

Adriatic Golf Club Cervia, Milano Marittima, Ravenna

Course Details

Par 70, 6,965 yards

There are 27 holes at the Adriatic Golf Club, made up of three separate nine hole courses - the Red, Blue and Yellow courses.

As per usual, there's absolutley no information on the venue on the DP World Tour website about the course but I've emailed the venue and I've been told that the Italian Open will be staged over a composite of the Red and the Yellow.

The Red is the original nine at the Adriatic GC and it opened in 1986, one year before the Blue was added.

Designed by Marco Croze and located inside an unspoilt ancient pine wood, the Red is the front nine used this week.

The Yellow is the newest of the three nines at the Adriatic. Opened as recently as 2004 and designed by professional golfer Baldovino Dassù and Architect Alvise Rossi Fioravanti, the Yellow is described as mainly inspired by Scottish links so the course used should be quite varied.

Layed to Bermuda, the layout is situated very close to the Adriatic Sea.

Weather Forecast

TV Coverage

Live on Sky Sports all four days, starting at 12:00 on Thursday

Last Eight Winners with Pre-event Exchange Prices

2023 - Adrian Meronk -13 25.024/1
2022 - Robert MacIntyre -14 60.059/1 (playoff)
2021 - Nicolai Hojgaard -13 290.0289/1
2020 - Ross McGowan -20 1000.0999/1
2019 - Bernd Wiesberger -16 55.054/1
2018 - Thorbjorn Olesen -22 130.0129/1
2017 - Tyrrell Hatton -21 20.019/1
2016 - Francesco Molinari -22 30.029/1

Is There an Angle In?

With very little to go on, waiting until the event is underway and getting a feel for the venue makes sense but anyone that does want to get involved before the get-go may find a few clues at the recent Scandinavian Mixed.

The Tournament Course at the Vasatorps Golfklubb Estate was described as a mixture of parkland and faux links holes and once we got to see the place, a number of holes were tree-lined (although not tightly so).

Whether that proves to be a similar type of layout is certainly debatable but even if it isn't too similar, anyone that contended there has proven that they can play well at a venue at the first time of asking. And they've also advertised their well being at a fairly recent tournament.

Is There an Identikit Winner?

Francesco Molinari's victory eight years ago was his second in the tournament. He took the title ten years earlier at Castello Tolcinasco and previous winners deserve serious consideration.

In addition to Molinari, Ian Poulter, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Hennie Otto have all won the event twice this century and all four have won at different venues.

Last year's winner, Adrian Meronk, has gone to LIV after his Ryder Cup rejection so he won't be in the field this week, but he probably would have failed to defend anyway.

Frenchman, Auguste Boyer, won his third and fourth titles back-to-back in 1930-31 and Belgium's Flory Van Donck made an unusual defence given he won consecutive renewals either side of World War II in 1938 and 1947 but they're the only two to defend the title.

The English tend to do well here and at least one Englishman has finished first or second in 12 of the last 16 renewals.

This has been a decent event for outsiders of late too. Meronk was a 25/126.00 shot last year and the 2016 and 2017 winners, Molinari and Tyrrell Hatton, were fairly obvious candidates but Robert MacIntyre in 2022 and Bernd Wiesberger in 2019 were trading at around 55.054/1 / 60.059/1 and every other winner over the last 18 years has been very hard to spot.

In-Play Tactics

We have nothing to go on, course wise, but this Tour is notorious for wobbly finishes, as demonstrated perfectly at the aforementioned Scandinavian Mixed, when Sebastian Soderberg failed to convert an eight-stroke 54-hole lead!

Laying anyone that goes odds-on in-play very often pays dividends given you only need two players to dip below even money to make a guaranteed profit.

I'm on holiday this week so I won't be taking the usual look at the market leaders or spending enough time on the event before the off to make any selections, but Matt Cooper will be along with the Find Me a 100 Winner column and I'll be back later in the week with the In-Play Blog.

Read my Rocket Mortgage Classic preview here

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter