Since the Challenge Tour was last in Italy seven months ago there has been a seismic shift in the world of Italian golf – namely the announcement that Rome’s Marco Simone Golf and Country Club will host the Ryder Cup in 2022.
As such, and unsurprisingly, it is hard to walk far around the impressive clubhouse at Golf della Montecchia, host of this week’s Montecchia Open by Lyoness, without spotting some reference to golf’s greatest team event.
It is fitting that the Challenge Tour is the first visitor from the European Tour stable since the Bid Evaluation Committee, headed by European Tour Chief Executive Keith Pelley, awarded the 2022 staging to the Eternal City, given itslong-standing and proudly successful history in the event.
No fewer than 23 Challenge Tour players have represented Team Europe at the Ryder Cup, with perhaps the most memorable and significant contribution being Italian legend Costantino Rocca’s vital singles win over Tiger Woods in 1997.
Seven members of Paul McGinley’s victorious 2014 side were former Challenge Tour players, while in the current points standings, five of the nine automatic qualifiers for this September’s event started their climb towards greatness on Europe’s top developmental tour.
Italy too has a long and fond association with the Ryder Cup, from Rocca’s heroics at Valderrama to the Molinari brothers helping Colin Montgomerie’s team to victory at Celtic Manor in 2010 – Edoardo Molinari had been playing Challenge Tour only one season previously, topping the 2009 Rankings before a fairytale week in Wales nine months later.
Stefano Manca, General Secretary of the Italian Golf Federation (FIG), believes that hosting the Ryder Cup will have an extremely positive effect on the development of golf in Italy.
“The Ryder Cup will be transformative for Italian golf and Rome,” he said. “Rome has fabulous experience of organising massive events and Italy will embrace The Ryder Cup with warmth, hospitality and classic Dolce Vita.
“The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) also supported the bid, in alignment with Rome’s bid for the 2024 Olympics, where golf will of course be a participating sport, and we hope the Ryder Cup will leave a lasting legacy for golf and golf tourism in Italy.
“Through a combination of the FIG and CONI working seamlessly together, Italy has done a good job in recent years of nurturing the talent it brings into the game through the ranks.
“Francesco and Edoardo Molinari, Matteo Manassero, Renato Paratore and many other talented young golfers have been given significant support to further their talents.
“The Ryder Cup will act as the aspirational target for entire new generations to come into the sport and to work their way through the same effective framework that has been created for them.
“There is no bigger global event for Italian Golf and this is why the government and the sport in Italy see this as such an important aspect of their future sports event strategy.”
