Alessandro Tadini is aiming for a win on home soil this week at the Mugello Tuscany Open to maintain Italian golf’s rich vein of form.
The 37 year old believes his country has never enjoyed such a fine spell, with brothers Edoardo and Francesco Molinari, who were part of the victorious European Ryder Cup team last year, and teenager Matteo Manassero, who recently won his second European Tour title, leading the way.
“Italy is enjoying a fantastic spell at the moment – probably the best ever,” said Tadini, who won the Credit Suisse Challenge last season en route to finishing 25th in the Challenge Tour Rankings. “It’s great for the fans. Matteo Manassero is doing brilliantly for such a young player and Francesco and Edoardo Molinari have played very well over the past couple of years.
“But they are not the only players in Italy – we are lucky to have many good players and it makes it very exciting. The ones at the top of the game who are winning European Tour events and playing in Ryder Cups are setting a very good example and we can all aspire to that.”
Tadini finished fifth in last year’s inaugural Mugello Tuscany Open and he is confident he can put in another good performance over Poggio dei Medici Golf Club this week.
“It would be very nice to win in my home country and I hope I can,” he said. “But before this week I haven’t played for three or four weeks. I didn’t play last week in Paris (the Allianz Challenge de France).
“I like this course very much and last year I finished in the top five. It’s a very difficult course with very quick greens and it’s extremely hilly. But I am feeling very good about my game and I’ve been practising hard so we will see. Putting will be very important as the greens are tricky here. I am feeling great with my putter so I will be hoping for some low scores.”
A self-confessed motorsports addict, Tadini added: “I love motorsport and this area is very well known for motor racing. The most famous circuit in Italy is only five kilometres away. Unfortunately I won’t have time to go this week but I have been there once before and loved it.”
