THE COURSE
Golf Club Milano – The Golf Club Milano was built in 1928 in the middle of an ancient Italian forest just north of Milan. The course is known for being long and narrow and every hole is well defined by thick walls of mature trees. Although all of that sounds intimidating, the players should not have much difficulty here this week and there will be many low scores (the aggregate winning totals the past two years have been 22 and 19 under). Hard to determine what key stats to focus on. Driving Accuracy will be important. Other than that, we’re going with course history.
PAST WINNERS
(Only two years at Golf Club Milano)
2016 -22 Francesco Molinari (Runner Up: -21 Danny Willett)
2015 -19 Rikard Karlberg (Runner Up: -19 Martin Kaymer, Note 3rd: -18 Lucas Bjerregaard)
ODDS (Bovada 10/9/2017)
Jon Rahm +600
Francesco Molinari +1400
Sergio Garcia +1400
Tyrrell Hatton +1600
Alex Noren +2000
Matthew Fitzpatrick +2500
Tommy Fleetwood +2500
Shane Lowry +2500
Bernd Wiesberger +3000
Martin Kaymer +3000
Paul Dunne +3300
Ross Fisher +3300
David Lingmerth +4000
Eddie Pepperll +4000
Lee Westwood +4000
WHO’S HOT
Eddie Pepperell
Paul Dunne
Tyrrell Hatton
Lucas Bjerregaard
Marc Warren
HORSES FOR THE COURSE
Francesco Molinari
Rikard Karlberg
Matthew Fitzpatrick
Martin Kaymer
Lucas Bjerregaard
LONGER SHOTS
David Lipsky
Nicolas Colsaerts
Joakim Lagergren
Alejandro Canizares
Richard Bland
FAITHFULS
Alexander Levy
Chris Wood
Andy Sullivan
Julien Quesne
WHO WE LIKE
Sergio Garcia – Jon Rahm, with his dominant skill set, is considered the clear favorite here odds-wise, but his finish to the PGA season left a little to be desired. Both Garcia and Francesco Molinari should feel more at home in this environment and we feel are both better choices (Matthew Fitzpatrick also plays well here and could easily be in contention coming down the stretch).
Lucas Bjerregaard & Joakim Lagergren – Bjerregaard and Lagergren are our two favorite choices in the middle odds range. Both finished T3 here in 2015 and have been showing excellent form over the past several weeks. (Eddie Pepperell, Alexander Levy, Rikard Karlberg, and David Horsey were also heavily in contention for this spot).
Nicolas Colsaerts – Our pick at the higher odds range is a risky one; Colsaerts has been off his game of late. However, he opened with back-to-back 67s last week and he has a good Italian Open history. We expect him to shine this week in Milan. (Haydn Porteous, Gregory Bourdy, and Richard Bland are also solid high odds picks).
