The European Senior Tour returns to Italy next month for the sixth edition of the Italian Senior Open presented by Villaverde Hotel & Resort, at Golf Club Udine from October 21-23.
This is the 12th event of The Ryder Cup 2022 Project, and will close the Italian professional season which has seen a number of national and international tournaments, including the recent Italian Open, won for the second time by home favourite Francesco Molinari.
Not since Domingo Hospital’s victory at the 2010 Sicilian Open has a Senior Tour event been contested on Italian soil and this year’s Italian Senior Open will be the ninth time an event has been held there.
This follows the previous five editions of the Italian Senior Open, from 2004-2008, the 1998 Is Molas Open, the 2004 Sanremo Masters and the aforementioned Sicilian Open.
A field of 54 Senior Tour players will vie for €350,000, the winner taking home €52,500, as former Ryder Cup stars David Gilford, Barry Lane and Philip Walton, join one of Italy’s most famous golfing sons, Costantino Rocca in Fagagna
Phillip Price, who made his mark at The 2002 Ryder Cup beating then World Number Two Phil Mickelson 3&2 at The Belfry en route to Europe’s 15½ - 12½ victory, will be eligible for his first Senior Tour appearance as he turns 50 on the first day of the tournament.
Designed by architects Marco Croze, John Harris and Fulvio Bani, Golf Club Udine is a par 72 and follows the natural contours of the Northern Italian hills in which it resides.
The main sponsor of this year’s tournament is the unique, four-storey Villaverde Hotel & Resort, which neighbours Golf Club Udine and was designed by renowned architect Alessio Princic in an ideal location for golfers and tourists alike.
