Italian Open: Bank on Bernd to double up at 47/1

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Italian Open tournament history

The Italian Open was first staged way back in 1925 and this is the 83^rd 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 this year the tournament returns to the venue that staged both the 2013 and 2014 editions - Circolo Golf Torino.

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Venue

Circolo Golf Torino, Fiano, Torino, Italy.

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Course details

Par 71, 7,214 yards

There are two courses at Circolo Golf Torino - the Yellow and the Blue - and it's the Blue Championship Course that will stage this year's renewal, as it did back in 2013 and 2014.

Designed by John Morrison back in 1924, the Blue Course is a fairly flat parkland layout framed by birch and oak forests with bentgrass greens.

Circolo Golf Torino is where the Molinari's learnt to play the game and Francesco is still attached to the club.

In addition to staging two editions of this event, Circolo also co-hosted the first edition of the twice only staged Piemonte Open on the HotelPlanner Tour in 2008, won by Seve Benson, but the field only played here once, on alternative days prior to the halfway cut.

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Weather Forecast

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TV coverage

Live on Sky Sports all four days, starting at 12:30 on Thursday.

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Last 10 winners with pre-event Betfair Exchange prices

2025 - Adrien Saddier.-14 85.084/1
2024 - Marcel Siem -10 230.0229/1 (playoff)
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

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Previous results at Circolo Golf Torino

(Key: DD - Driving Distance; DA - Driving Accuracy; GIR - Greens in Regulation; SC - Scrambling; PA - Putting Average)

2013 Italian Open
1 Julien Quesne -12 DD 40, DA 64, GIR 21, SCR 10, PA 4
2 David Higgins -11 DD 68, DA 17, GIR 21, SCR 38, PA 2
3 Steve Webster -11 DD 15, DA 10, GIR 6, SCR 24, PA 18

2014 Italian Open
1 Hennie Otto -20 DD 13, DA 11, GIR 2, SCR 7, PA 4
2 David Howell -18 DD 54, DA 43, GIR 25, SCR 11, PA 2
3 Stephen Gallagher -17 DD 11, DA 57, GIR 33, SCR 1, PA 4

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Will the veterans come to the fore again?

It may be purely coincidental and completely insignificant, but it was noticeable how many experienced players contended at the two editions previously staged at Circolo.

The winner in 2013, Julien Quesne, was only 33 but the two men tied for second, David Higgins and Steve Webster, were 40 and 38 and back in a tie for fourth was Chile's Felipe Aguilar, who was 39.

Hennie Otto won the 2014 edition here at the age of 38, a year after finishing tied for eighth, and a pair of 39-year-olds - David Howell and Stephen Gallagher - finished second and third.

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Previous winners and long-shots fare well

Francesco Molinari's victory at the Italian Open a decade ago in Milan was his second in the tournament. He also won the title ten years earlier at Castello Tolcinasco so it will be fascinating to see how he fares at his home club.

Has anyone ever won their national title three times with ten years separating each victory? I suspect not.

Molinari played here in 2013 and 2014 and he finished only 16^th and 18^th but he sat second with 18 to play in 2013, having been tied for the lead at halfway, and he was the first-round leader 12 months later.

Molinari isn't the only man to win the title twice 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.

Frenchman, Auguste Boyer, won his third and fourth Italian Open 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 18 renewals.

This has been a very good event for outsiders. The three winners at Marco Simone between 2021 and 2023-Nicolai Hojgaard, Robert Macintyre and Adrian Meronk - all kicked on after winning this event and Macintyre and Hojgaard were far from obvious candidates before the off, trading at odds of 60.059/1 and 290.0289/1 before the start on the Betfair Exchange.

Last year's winner, Saddier, was generally an 85.084/1 chance and Marcel Siem was really tough to spot before the get-go two years ago, going off at 230.0229/1.

Ross McGowan was a 1000.0999/1 chance six years ago and he's just one of many longshots to take the title this century.

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In-running trends at Circolo Golf Torino

Julien Quesne started slowly when he won here in 2013, sitting 24^th and five off the lead after the first round.

He sat ninth after rounds two and three, trailing by three at halfway and by four with 18 to play, before going on to win by a stroke with a 67 on Sunday.

In contrast, Hennie Otto was up with the pace form the get-go in 2014.

The South African trailed by just a stroke after round one and he was leading by three at halfway and by two with a round to go. He went on to win by two.

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Wiesberger the sole selection before the off

It's very tempting to back the favourite, Joaquin Niemann, who finished tied for seventh, beaten by five strokes, at last week's US Open, despite dropping seven strokes on one hole in round one!

After chalking up a nine, thanks mainly to hitting two drives out of bounds on the par four sixth hole, Niemann was penalised a further two strokes for serious misconduct because he threw his club around 50 yards in anger.

Had he parred that hole instead of making an 11, he'd have finished the week two in front of the winner, Clark.

That's obviously a far too simplistic way to look at what would have transpired had he not dropped seven strokes on one hole in round one, but the fact remains that he played extremely well, and importantly, he putted really nicely.

The Chilean is a class act trading at a nice price on the Betfair Exchange, but he often starts slowly and for that reason I'm going to leave him out before the get-go.

Given past winners have a great record, that veterans have fared well at this venue, that he has form at the course, and that he's won recently, Austria's Bernd Wiesberger is an obvious selection.

The 40-year-old, who won the Italian Open back in 2019, finished 23^rd at this venue in 2013 and sixth in 2014, and he arrives in fair form this time around.

After his victory at the China Open at the end of April, he finished 13^th in Turkey and Spain before missing the cut at the US PGA Championship and although he finished only 21^st last time out in the KLM Open, that slightly disappointing performance can be excused given it immediately followed his fourth place finish in his national Open.

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