Francesco Molinari is feeling refreshed and raring to go as he returns to competitive golf for the first time since the birth of his second child at the 72° OPEN D'ITALIA presented by DAMIANI.
The home favourite was last in action as he finished in a tie for 54th at the US PGA Championship, with daughter Emma being born four days later, and he sat out the next four tournaments on The European Tour.
But after spending time with his family and getting some practice in on the range Molinari, who has four top tens in ten European Tour appearances so far this season, is relishing playing on home soil.
"I'm excited, as always, for my national Open," he said. "I feel rested and ready having had some time off to practise and get some training done so it should be a great week."
He added: "My preparation has been going well and I have spent the last two weeks hitting balls and getting a lot of the feeling back in my game. Hopefully I will be ready to go on Thursday morning.
"We had our second child a few weeks ago so that was the main reason to take some time off and be there for what is a very special moment in your life, but I have to say it's been nice to sleep in a quiet hotel room this week! There are a lot of sleepless nights when a new baby arrives but it's been great overall."
The tournament, one of seven ever-presents since The European Tour's formation in 1972, returns to Golf Club Milano for the first time since 1990 this week and Molinari is expecting good backing from the local fans.
"Hopefully the crowds will be huge as they have been for the last few years," he said. "You always get a little bit extra at your home events because you can feel the support of the crowd and you always want to try and make them happy.
"This is another classic Italian Open course, one of the great parkland courses that we have in Italy so it's all set up for a great tournament.
"I think the crowds will love watching so many great players and there will be a lot of birdies and eagles to get them going."
