This week the 80th Italian Open will take place, which will be the dress rehearsal for the organization of the Ryder Cup in September. In 2015, when the Ryder Cup was awarded to Italy, Marco Simone’s path was very different from what we will see on TV this week.
To allow the success of the event it was necessary to redesign and rebuild the field from scratch.
Marco Simone, course
Work began in 2018, and the old Marco Simone was completely dismantled. In its place the architects of the European Golf Design studio and in particular the chief architect for this project, Dave Sampson, created a completely new course.
Large amounts of earth have been moved to create new holes and open up new corridors of play, and many trees have been cleared to allow more holes to be viewed at the same time. Of the original 18 holes, the only one left in the same position is hole 6, but here too the green has been repositioned and remodeled.
The spaces of the new course have been designed to ensure the best possible experience for spectators, and the holes have been designed to guarantee entertainment in the final stages of the match play. To achieve this, the architects have alternated difficult holes with risk-reward holes, or rather holes where you can choose whether to take a risk and be very aggressive from the tee to try to make an eagle, or be more conservative and have an easy par.
“I specially designed the course so that most of the risk-reward holes were on the back nine, such as the 11th, 12th and 16th, but even on the front nine we have the option of making hole 5 a drivable par 4. All par 5s are within two strokes, because giving players that possibility makes it more exciting, and that is very important for a Ryder Cup ” The result of this work is a spectacular course, probably the best modern course in Italy.
The eighteen holes are not excessively long compared to the Tour average, and the main pitfalls are found around the greens. The latter are the protagonists of this route: they are all very different, relatively large and very undulating, and the undulations continue naturally in the surrounding area, making it very difficult to approach.
The areas around the greens are cut at fairway height, and in this way any slightly off-target shot is accentuated and severely punished. Compared to the last edition of the Open, the course has undergone some changes dictated by captain Luke Donald: to favor European players, the sides of some bunkers have been raised, making them more punishing, and some fairways have been restricted.
In this way, for American players, who tend to be longer and less precise, the field should be more difficult. Surely this week the captain and his deputy, Edoardo Molinari, will pay close attention to how the various holes will be played, and will prepare the final moves to make the most of the advantage of playing at home.
