Francesco and Edoardo Molinari will be aiming to make a special week even sweeter when they tee it up at their home course of Circolo Golf Torino for the DS Automobiles 83° Open d’Italia.
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The brothers were born in Turin and grew up flushing the fairways of this week’s venue, since losing track of the number of times they have each gone around.
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Such experience, and knowledge of the course’s challenges, places the pair a step ahead of the field, with the prospect of a sentimental victory in their sights come Sunday.
For Francesco, it would mark a third win of his national open, having triumphed in 2006 at Castello di Tolcinasco Golf and Country Club in Milan, and then again a decade later at Golf Club Milano.
The 2018 Open Champion and six-time DP World Tour winner, who was named one of Luke Donald’s Vice Captains for the 2027 Ryder Cup earlier today, has recorded three top-ten finishes across eight events so far this season, and will now be looking to mount a challenge on home soil this week.
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Older brother Edoardo, another of Donald’s assistants for Adare Manor, is set for his 444th start on golf’s Global Tour. The 45-year-old, whose last win came in 2017, will be hoping to fly the flag for both his country and his club, which previously hosted the tournament in 1999, 2013 and 2014.
They will need to outplay a strong field in Turin, including current Race to Dubai leader Patrick Reed, two-time Ryder Cup winning captain Donald, and defending champion Adrien Saddier.
American Reed returns for his first event on the DP World Tour, outside of the Majors, since March, eager to attack the week and pick up where he left off.
The 35-year-old won his first Rolex Series event at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January, following it up with a second-place finish in Bahrain and victory at the Qatar Masters in the fortnight after. A win on Italian soil is firmly in focus this week.
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Donald returns for his sixth appearance at Italy’s national open, and first since Team Europe’s win at Marco Simone in 2023. The former World Number One will be hoping to add more memories to a country he holds close to his heart – as will Saddier.
The Frenchman produced a back-nine blitz 12 months ago to claim his maiden DP World Tour title by two strokes; a win that set up a strong run of events and saw him finish ninth on the Race to Dubai Rankings Delivered by DP World to secure Dual Membership on the PGA TOUR.
The DS Automobiles 83° Open d’Italia is the penultimate event of the DP World Tour’s European Swing, the fourth of five Global Swings included on the 2026 Race to Dubai.
This year marks a return to Circolo Golf Torino, with a total prize fund of US$3 million, and 3,500 Race to Dubai points on offer.
Player Quotes
Francesco Molinari: Pretty incredible to play such a big event on the course you made your first steps on a golf course. So many good memories. It’s special. The national open for anyone is already special but playing it where you grew up adds an extra layer of emotions that we will both feel out there on the course.
It’s been good. I have been home practising the last couple of weeks. It’s been cool, to see the course evolving in the last two weeks and getting tournament ready. Obviously with the temperatures we’re having it is going to play a little softer than we were hoping for, just because they need to water the course so much. Prep has gone well. Obviously, there are loads of things to do and requests, but I think it is part of the fun. You just have to embrace it, one week a year and make the most of it.
It would be incredible, obviously. I have been lucky enough to do it twice already in my career which is something I would never have thought possible. Having down it twice I know how hard it is, and how much energy you need during the week, with everything that happens outside the golf course. I am trying to manage my energy as good as I can. I am playing well enough I would say this year. I have had a nice putting lesson with Phil Kenyon a couple of weeks ago who I hadn’t seen in a long time and let’s see what happens.
Edoardo Molinari: It’s difficult to remember now because it has been so many years but playing the first few putting competitions and chipping contests between each other. We have hit so many balls on the range and chipping green and obviously played so many contests on the course it is great to be back, and it is always a special playing in Italy but even more so on your home course where you have grown up. Difficult to tell. A few thousand (times they have played the course) Maybe a bit too much…
Up to a point because we are used to play the course in a certain way, almost blindfolded. You just hit driver over trees and then this week it becomes slightly different with more rough and different conditions. I still think, we know the greens obviously very well. We know where you have to miss, can miss. So, hopefully that will play a big part come the end of the week.
It’s a very fair golf course. There’s a few doglegs but you don’t have to shape the ball either way if you don’t want to. If you play well, you can score really well. If you’re not playing well it is going to be quite hard because there are a lot of trees. The greens are big but if they hide the pins it is difficult to hit it close. All in all, it is a test that I think the players will enjoy a lot.
