Italy finally falling in love with golf

Italian golf has reached previously unknown heights since the arrival in the big time over the last few years of the Molinari brothers Francesco and Edoardo and the clear possibility that in the 20 year-old Matteo Manassero, last week’s highly impressive winner of the BMW PGA Championship, they possess the next Tiger Woods.

Prior to the Molinaris at Celtic Manor in 2010, the only other Italian to grace a European Ryder Cup side was Costantino Rocca, and therein lies a fascinating background to the ethos of the game in the country.

The distinguished British journalist Peter Dobereiner once wrote that “golf in Italy is not for the riff-raff. The game is the preserve of wealth and breeding and privilege. Walk through the locker room of any Italian club and you will stumble over the highly polished, handmade shoes of dukes, counts and marquises, They do themselves well, these Italian golfers, especially in the luxury of their clubhouses and the scope of the dining facilities.”