Interim week for great golf, which is divided into two tournaments with the participation of Francesco Molinari, Matteo Manassero and Renato Paratore.
Molinari remains on the Pga Tour and today is San Antonio, for the Valero Texas Open, a competition with 156 participants which takes place on the Tpc, AT&T Oaks Course, a 6700-metre par 72 course. Manassero and Paratore are instead on the European Tour, in China, for the Shenzhen International on the Genzon GC route.
It is a consistent commitment on the part of the Azzurri, who ring tournaments week after week looking for results which, unfortunately, are struggling to arrive. In golf you need perseverance, patience and willpower, qualities that Italian players demonstrate by putting their all into it. Molinari is in his ninth engagement on the Pga Tour and must climb thirty positions in the ranking to have the opportunity to participate in the most important competitions. In three weeks there is The Players and it would be nice to see a tricolor flag again at the tees.
In Texas Jimmy Walker defends the title, in a field that also boasts a star like Phil Mickelson and a rising star like Bryson DeChambeau, winner of the Masters medal for the best amateur and turned professional the day after the close of the major.
Top players include Luke Donald, Zach Johnson, Patrick Reed, Brandt Snedeker, Keegan Bradley, Matt Kuchar, Charley Hoffman, Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington and Thongchai Jaidee. The prize pool is $6,2 million, with first coin being $1,116 million. The tournament is broadcast live on Sky Sport with connections from 21 to 24.
The field in China is also of a good level. In fact, Manassero and Paratore will have to compete with players like Miguel Angel Jimenez, Robert Karlsson, Victor Dubuisson and Alexander Levy, Nicolas Colsaerts, Stephen Gallacher.
For Manassero it is important to get back on the road after the cut outs in Perth and Valderrama, while Renato Paratore is looking for continuity in a season in which he is curiously alternating between two prize tournaments and two concluded after 36 holes. The prize pool is 2,470 million euros.
