European Tour - BMW Italian Open

First topic message reminder :

So the tour flys out from the shores of britain back to the mainland continent for another BMW sponsored event the Italian Open at the Royal Park Golf & Country Club in turin, so for Francesco Molinari it is literally his home event, and will have the crowds following him in droves.

This is the final showing before the US Open at Congressional so a good time for the guys to see what short of shape their games are in for those that have qualified for the big one next week.

Also this last week the European Tour have awarded Charl Schwartzel with Honourary lifetime membership to the tour, personally speaking I find this a bit of a premature award, it means he has lifetime exemption to the tour and no matter what happens to his form he can play the tour. My question is wha thas he really done to deserve this? Sure he has a few victories on tour and has now since won the masters but does that warrent such an award. After all look at Michael Campbell, he to has tour victories and a US Open but can barely make a cut now, i'm not saying this is the path Charl will walk but it can happen, and would that really be something the tour wants.

Anyway back on thread, last years winner and defending champio Fredrik Anderson-Hed is out of form, top prize here is 250,000 Euros, but if you look at the list of past champions and you happen to be a betting man, you couldn't go far wrong with your money on a british winner here. There are plenty of brits that have taken this title and our guys always seem to do well in this event.

Guys will be looking to drive the ball well and hit plenty GIR in preparation for next weeks US Open as they are the real keys to winning out at Congressional or at any US Open venue.

This week has been a week of mass qualifying for our own Open championship and saw a feast of low scores but another noteable mention to Alex Noren, last Monday secured US open qualification, Sunday victor at Celtic Manor and this Monday secured Open Championship qualification great week for Alex and now a week off.

I'll leave with a small note of 3 noteable other qualifiers for the US Open all US based, one is european the others have links to the event and tour in a family way....

Sergio Garcia (Always worth a mention)
Steve Irwin (not the crocodile hunter, but in fact Hale Irwins son)
Sam Saunders (Arnold Palmers grandson)

kwinigolfer wrote:A sign of how deep Camilo's slump had become - even with a 3rd place finish, he only climbs back up to 64 in the owgr. One shot ahead of Anthony Kim.

Mav,
I wrote a note on Iain Carter's blog recommending they consult 606v2 for any further clarification - does the fact that the mods haven't deleted my comment reflect no-one cares there anymore, or just that no-one reads it? I suspect both.

Camillo been in rankings freefall until this week, finally a good showing hopefully he can now use this as a spring board to a solid season if not spectacular, no surpirse in the fact he loses his bag man to the nationwide and his own form drops off... How is bagman doing on the nationwide these days.

Kwini I think its a case of both no-one really checking and they don't seem to care. Yet worryingly there will be many golf fans that use the BBC as their source of information like my father does for example and they are being misled! Thank god for v2

Camilo's caddie on the Nationwide?
Brett Waldman has played nine events and won $1,678, which is way down the bottom on the money list, but he's probably living out his dream, and there's no price on that.

Camilo often plays above his normal form in Majors - don't expect him to contend this week but could be a good top twenty showing.

Also expect Karlsson to continue playing well, am hoping for a strong European Tour presence on the leaderboard. Still think length will be an issue though, but that won't bother RK or Kaymer or Westwood. Or even Noren.

In fairness to the beeb, I saw a similar claim on a few other sites. It might be just that they copy their stories from Sky or whoever, rather than being clueless themselves. Not sure that's better though....

Pleased to see Rob finally close one out in style but amazed that he hadnt got a visa sorted for US and has had to go to US embassy in london today to make a flight later,not even time to do the washing.Not ideal prep.
Real genuine guy always got time for the fans and younger pros and damn fine golfer too.

dyna,
Not sure why he would enter the qualifier if he wasn't prepared, a bit naive to say the least.
Reminiscent of Gary Wolstenholme at Torrey Pines, complaining about the cost of everything (accomodation, food, transportation) and having to "hire" a BBC journo as caddie. Made for a ripping yarn as far as the BBC was concerned, but how daft can you get?

Great to see RR responding to all the acclaim from friends and fans. Comes across as a good bloke, just wish he'd play a bit more quickly though am sure Congressional will be very slow anyway.

Odd as soon as he qualified visa must have been top of the list and would have been easier during that week you would think.Bit more research tells that caddie and clubs have gone ahead via private jet.
Kwini your last post represents the 2 ends of the spectrum for me.GW was a misery who walked in front didnt speak and didnt stop for meal or drink after.RR was good company, melted it round the course, and stayed after the game ,gave a speech to the other midlands pros about playing in the Open.Also gave a load of golfing gear to our assistant pro.Top class

Dyna,
This cheesy whine was in the Sunday Times of the day:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/golf/article4107900.ece

Shame on the journalist also for writing this drivel without any push back.
I remember Wolstenholme's father; he emigrated to Australia I think, perhaps "Gary" can take the same trip?

But everything one hears about RR seems very positive, good stuff. Still no excuse for not being prepared for success though.

Gael has some good GW related stories, all bad.Former member of my club sadly not with us now went to school with Guy W and told me the story of how they both wanted to go out with the same girl so decided to settle it by a round of golf.Guy won of course ,strange the course of history.
Back on travel didnt one of the Americans recently qualify for the open and didnt have a passport!

Correct! Sean O'Hair certainly did, a few years ago now, and think someone else did recently. Morons.

I miss gael, need her inimitable style on here. Course, she may be on under a nom de plume, but think one post would be enough to rumble her.

kwinigolfer wrote:Dyna,
This cheesy whine was in the Sunday Times of the day:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/golf/article4107900.ece

Shame on the journalist also for writing this drivel without any push back.
I remember Wolstenholme's father; he emigrated to Australia I think, perhaps "Gary" can take the same trip?

But everything one hears about RR seems very positive, good stuff. Still no excuse for not being prepared for success though.

You have to wonder about anyone who stays a career amateur, and then moans about lack of money!

Seniors tour now for GW.Reasonably competitive by the look of it.