Romain Langasque heads the field at this week’s Terre dei Consoli Open as the highest-ranked player on the Road to Oman and he is targeting a maiden professional victory to cap an outstanding debut season on the European Challenge Tour.
The Frenchman has finished in the top five on six occasions – three of which were runner-up finishes – and currently sits fifth in the Rankings with just five tournaments remaining.
The 21 year old caught the attention when, still an amateur, he made the cut at this year’s Masters Tournament, while last month he held the halfway lead at the Omega European Masters on the European Tour, ultimately finishing tied seventh.
After returning to Europe’s top developmental tour last week in Kazakhstan, Langasque arrived at Terre dei Consoli Golf Club on the outskirts of Rome keen to tick one of the few remaining boxes in his fledgling professional career: to win.
“I’m really looking for a victory,” he said. “I know the key for me is I have to be patient and do my job on every shot on every hole – last week my game was ready to make a really good result but my tee shots were too impatient.
“I really want to win a Challenge Tour tournament before I go onto the European Tour next year but it’s not really important – if I won the Road to Oman and didn’t win any tournaments it would still be great.
“Winning the Road to Oman would be really cool but the big objective was to be on the European Tour next year, and now I’m pretty sure I will be, so now if I can win, that’s good, but if not it’s not a problem.
British Amateur champion @Lancaisse made 5 birdies on the second nine to close with a 68 in his first #themasters.https://t.co/aukBmrLmn8
— Masters Tournament (@TheMasters) April 10, 2016
“I’m playing really good. I had a bad weekend last week in Kazakhstan just because I was too impatient on the course and I was too focused on the score and not on what I needed to do.
“My game, though, is really, really good and I’m playing the best golf at the moment, so we will see what happens this week and in the next few weeks.
“Playing on the European Tour was really good. I missed a few weeks on the Challenge Tour to get a bit of experience and I got myself in position in Crans after two rounds, and after three rounds as well, and I really enjoyed that.
“The next week at the KLM Open I was a little tired but I made the cut and I finished 34th, but I played without any pressure and it went really well.
“I think my game is ready to play on the European Tour because you can play well on the Challenge Tour with some game but not always on the European Tour with the same game because the courses are tougher.
“But I think my game is ready for both of the Tours, and just the little thing missing for me at the moment is a victory anywhere, but that will come and I have to be patient.”
Following the excitement of last week’s Ryder Cup – which featured seven former Challenge Tour players – it has not escaped Langasque’s attention that the next edition of the tournament will be at his home country’s Le Golf National.
“The Ryder Cup is a dream for me,” he said. “To play it in our country is another dream and in 2018, maybe I can be there, but if I am not it’s not the biggest objective.
“I think it’s possible though – Fitzpatrick, Koepka, Pieters, they show how quickly you can go to the top from here, so I know I can too. If I stay patient and do the job it will be interesting.”
Joining Langasque in Italy are fellow top 15 players Alexander Bjӧrk, Damien Perrier and Duncan Stewart, as well as Gary King, winner on the Challenge Tour’s last Italian tournament back in May.
Lorenzo Gagli is the highest-ranked Italian in the field at 31st, while much local attention will surround highly-rated amateur Guido Migliozzi who is playing his final event as an amateur before turning professional next week.
