Italian Open
Guido Migliozzi, after carding four bogeys in a six-hole stretch around the turn, birdied two of his last three holes to get into a three-man playoff with Joe Dean and Marcus Kinhult and won said playoff on the second playoff hole to cash a 35/1 winner for this column at the KLM Open in Amsterdam last weekend. Migliozzi and Dean also earned spots in The Open at Royal Troon next month.
Now Migliozzi (22/1 this week) returns home for his national open as the Italian Open moves away from Marco Simone, which was last year’s Ryder Cup venue in Rome, to a new site this year in Cervia, a seaside resort in the Adriatic Riviera.
Patrick Reed (12/1) is the shortest price on the board but comes in off finishing just 32nd at LIV Nashville last week.
Tom McKibbin (16/1) rallied with a Sunday round of 65 to finish 6th last week.
At 18/1 are Laurie Canter and Bernd Wiesberger who went 1-2 four weeks ago at the European Open in Hamburg, Germany.
The Course
Adriatic Golf Club Cervia is located in the Northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna and has three distinct nine-hole golf courses (yellow, red, and blue) on the property. The 18 holes being used for this tournament are the yellow front nine which as billed as a Scottish links style course and the red back nine is more of a pinewood forest. These two distinct nine-hole courses will combine for a Par 70 of 6,965 yards.
Despite being a seaside resort, the course sits inland and is not right along the Adriatic Sea.
The fairways are Bermudagrass while the greens are also Bermudagrass but with Ryegrass overseed.
Selections
Matthew Jordan 30/1
Jordan is a former accomplished amateur still seeking his first DP World Tour victory. His lone professional victory was five years ago this week on the Challenge Tour, ironically enough, in Italy.
The Englishman comes in with three consecutive finishes of 13th of better (T-5 Soudal Open, T-13 European Open, T-8 Scandinavian Mixed). Jordan was 1st, 1st, and 3rd for Greens In Regulation in those three events and that ball-striking form should come in handy here on what appears to be a bit of a tighter course, especially on the back nine.
He ranks 8th for Strokes Gained: Tee-To-Green, 9th for Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee, 12th for Greens In Regulation, and 20th for Strokes Gained: Approach on the DP World Tour this season.
Matteo Manassero 40/1
Manassero will look to do his part to make it back-to-back for Italians on the DP World Tour this week and he comes in with excellent from having finished T-7 last week in the Netherlands while ranking 2nd in the field for Strokes Gained: Tee-To-Green, 3rd for Greens In Regulation, 6th for Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee, and 6th for Strokes Gained: Around The Green.
The former No. 1 World Amateur broke a nearly 11-year winless drought on the DP World Tour (won on the Challenge Tour in 2023) earlier this spring in South Africa at the Jonsson Workwear Open.
He has continued that form from the spring having been the First Round Leader in two of his last six starts.
Calum Hill 45/1
Hill did not win the Scandinavian Mixed event three weeks ago, but he did tie as the low scorer on the men’s side with Sebastian Soderberg, who did help out blowing an eight-stroke lead.
The incoming form has been progressively good as Hill posted Top 20 finishes at the Soudal Open in Belgium (T-18) and the European Open in Germany (T-13) before the aforementioned Scandinavian Mixed event.
The Scotsman’s short game has been top notch this year as he ranks 5th for Scrambling and 12th for Strokes Gained: Putting.
Rikuya Hoshino 60/1
Hoshino claimed his first DP World Tour victory earlier this year at the Qatar Masters.
His form cooled a little but he re-emerged with a Top 10 finish last week at the KLM Open in the Netherlands leading the field for Strokes Gained: Tee-To-Green and ranking 3rd for Strokes Gained: Approach. Unfortunately, he ranked 70th out of 74 players that made the cut for Strokes Gained: Putting.
Andy Sullivan 70/1
Sullivan has three Top 4 finishes this season including a T-3 three weeks ago at the Scandinavian Mixed.
The Englishman ranks 7th on the DP World Tour for Driving Accuracy and ranks 1st for Putts Per Round (27.57). His accurate game off the tee and still excellent short game could get him back in the winner’s circle for the first time since 2020.
