Francesco Molinari and Matteo Manassero are finally back on the pitch after the long Christmas break. The two Italian champions will be at the starting tees in two tournaments from one side of the world to the other.
Francesco begins his 2016 season on the PGA Tour, at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, in the Hawaiian Islands, where the Sony Open takes place until Sunday. The Turinese's first goal is to return to the top 50 players in the world ranking as soon as possible, where he currently occupies position 67. Jimmy Walker defends the title in a context in which we find Keegan Bradley, Jason Dufner, Zach Johnson, Kevin Kisner among others , Matt Kuchar, Webb Simpson, Adam Scott, Marc Leishman, Luke Donald and Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell.
The prize pool is $5,8 million with a first coin of just over a million dollars. A nice field, even if the big names of the American circuit are missing, first of all Jordan Spieth who last week defeated the competition of 30 rivals of the US circuit in the very rich Hyundai tournament of champions, reserved for the winners of at least one race on the Pga. Too bad I didn't see this beautiful challenge in Italy. Fortunately we will be able to recover this week with the Sony Open, which is offered live on Sky Sports late at night, due to the time difference.
Matteo Manassero is instead in Johannesburg, South Africa, with a large patrol of compatriots: Renato Paratore, Francesco Laporta, Nino Bertasio, Edoardo Molinari, Nicolò Ravano and Marco Crespi. The challenge is open for the Joburg Open, a combined tournament between the European Tour and the Sunshine Tour, which takes place on the two courses of the Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club (West Course and East Course).
For Matteo it is the umpteenth test, after a 2015 to forget. The Olympics are just a few months away and the young Veronese doesn't have much time to move up positions in the ranking and aspire to a flight to Rio. After an exceptional start to his career and the victory of 4 tournaments, Matteo went into a crisis last year and did nothing but run backwards. It's time to change pace or even to revolutionize his preparation, to return to the levels he was used to.
The South African players are the favorites in the match, among which stand out Ernie Els, Brandon Stone, fresh from his success in the South African Open, Trevor Immelman, Richard Sterne, Jaco Van Zyl, Hennie Otto, winner of two Italian Opens, and Jbe Kruger .
For Italy, confirmations are awaited from Paratore, Bertasio and Ravano after the promising start, while Edoardo Molinari and Francesco Laporta have yet to get into the right gear, returning from various missed cuts. This race is also broadcast live on Sky Sports.
However, the golf weekend is also full of other events: Matteo Delpodio and Alessandro Tadini are hunting for a 'card' for the 2016 Asian Tour in the Qualifying School final, which takes place on the two courses of the Imperial Lakeview Golf Club and of the Springfield Royal Country Club, in Hua Hin, Thailand. The two Italians had access to the final act thanks to a good performance in Stage1 in which they finished third and twelfth respectively.
While on the course of the Glenmarie Golf & Country Club, in Shah Alam in Malaysia, the second edition of the EurAsia Cup is held from Friday to Sunday, a challenge between selections from Europe and Asia. The teams are made up of 12 players and the matches will be 24, a sort of Ryder Cup in a minor key and with a very different appeal.
The European formation, led by the Northern Irishman Darren Clarke, is made up of Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Ross Fisher, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Andy Sullivan, Danny Willett, Chris Wood, Victor Dubuisson, Kristoffer Broberg, Soren Kjeldsen, Shane Lowry, Bernd Wiesberger.
In the Asian team, led by Indian Jeev Milkha Singh, there are Shingo Katayama, Thongchai Jaidee, Prayad Marksaeng, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Ashun Wu, Anirban Lahiri and SSP Chowrasia, Danny Chia and Nicholas Fung, KT Kim, Jeunghun Wang and Byeong Hun An .
