The DS Automobiles Italian Open ( it, Open d'Italia) is the men's national
open
Open or OPEN may refer to:
Music
* Open (band), Australian pop/rock band
* The Open (band), English indie rock band
* ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969
* ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999
* ''Open'' (Cowboy Junkies album), 2001
* ''Open'' (YF ...
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
championship of
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
. It was founded in 1925 and, except for 1933 and during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, was played annually until 1960. After an eleven-year hiatus, it returned in 1971 when it was one of five tournaments in Continental Europe that were included on the British PGA Order of Merit circuit. The following year of that circuit has since been recognised as the first official season of the
European Tour
The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...
, and the Italian Open is one of few tournaments that have featured on the schedule every year. The 2018 event was the 75th edition of the championship.
In 2017 the European Tour created the
Rolex Series, a group of events with higher prize money, with the Italian Open being one of the designated events with total prize money increased to US$7 million, more than double that of the previous year. In 2020 the tournament was not part of the Rolex Series, having been rescheduled with much lower prize money due to the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
History
In 1935, British golfer
Percy Alliss
Percy Alliss (8 January 1897 – 31 March 1975) was one of the leading English professional golfers in the 1920s and 1930s, winning many tournaments in Britain and Continental Europe. He was the father of commentator and former golfer Peter Allis ...
scored a 262 aggregate on his way to winning the event. He established the lowest 72-hole total ever in any golf tournament ever at the time. The legitimacy of the record was in doubt, according to
''Time'', as the length of the San Remo course was only 5,200 yards, far below the international "championship standard." Many decades later, in 2008, South African
Hennie Otto
Hendrik Johannes "Hennie" Otto (born 25 June 1976) is a South African professional golfer.
Otto was born in Boksburg. He has played golf on the European Tour since 2000 having graduated from the Challenge Tour, but has only finished within the ...
was just one stroke away from Alliss' total, still the tournament record.
Venues
In 1973 the first two rounds were played on two different courses, Acquasanta and Olgiata, everyone playing one round on each course. After the cut, Acquasanta was then used for the final two rounds.
Winners
Source:
Multiple winners
*4 wins
**
Auguste Boyer: 1926, 1928, 1930, 1931
**
Flory Van Donck
Flory Van Donck (23 June 1912 – 14 January 1992) was a Belgian professional golfer.
Van Donck is widely regarded as the greatest ever Belgian golfer. During his career, he won more than fifty tournaments worldwide, including many of the mo ...
: 1938, 1947, 1953, 1955
*2 wins
**
Percy Alliss
Percy Alliss (8 January 1897 – 31 March 1975) was one of the leading English professional golfers in the 1920s and 1930s, winning many tournaments in Britain and Continental Europe. He was the father of commentator and former golfer Peter Allis ...
: 1927, 1935
**
Ugo Grappasonni
Ugo Grappasonni (8 May 1922 – 16 February 1999) was an Italian professional golfer.
Grappasonni was born in Rome and was one of the leading golfers in Italy, winning his national open twice, in 1950 and 1954, and the National Omnium on four ...
: 1950, 1954
**
Sandy Lyle
Alexander Walter Barr Lyle (born 9 February 1958) is a Scottish professional golfer. Lyle has won two major championships during his career. Along with Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam, he became one of Britain's top golfers during the 1980s. He spen ...
: 1984, 1992
**
Sam Torrance
Samuel Robert Torrance (born 24 August 1953) is a Scottish professional golfer and sports commentator. He was one of the leading players on the European Tour from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s, with 21 Tour wins. Torrance was a member of Eur ...
: 1987, 1995
**
Bernhard Langer
Bernhard Langer (; born 27 August 1957) is a German professional golfer. He is a two-time Masters champion and was one of the world's leading golfers throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 1986, he became the sport's first official number one ra ...
: 1983, 1997
**
Ian Poulter
Ian James Poulter (born 10 January 1976) is an English professional golfer who plays in the LIV Golf League. He has previously been ranked as high as number 5 in the world rankings. The highlights of Poulter's career to date have been his two W ...
: 2000, 2002
**
Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño
Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño (born 13 October 1980) is a Spanish professional golfer. He has played on the European Tour, winning seven times, and on the PGA Tour.
Early life
Fernández-Castaño was born in Madrid. He started playing golf at t ...
: 2007, 2012
**
Hennie Otto
Hendrik Johannes "Hennie" Otto (born 25 June 1976) is a South African professional golfer.
Otto was born in Boksburg. He has played golf on the European Tour since 2000 having graduated from the Challenge Tour, but has only finished within the ...
: 2008, 2014
**
Francesco Molinari
Francesco Molinari (born 8 November 1982) is an Italian professional golfer. He won the 2018 Open Championship, his first and only major victory, and the first major won by an Italian professional golfer. The Open Championship win capped a su ...
: 2006, 2016
Notes
References
External links
Coverage on the European Tour's official site
{{coord, 45.409, N, 10.595, E, type:event, display=title
European Tour events
Golf tournaments in Italy
Sport in Turin
Recurring sporting events established in 1925
1925 establishments in Italy