Chicco will initially part ways with America: “More Europe from the summer onwards, until the Olympic Games”
The Ryder was a global success that put Italy in the eyes of the entire golfing universe. Now is the time to take advantage of it here. We will see whether the number of golfers increases, whether new clubs open, whether the number of tourists grows, we will see that in the coming months and years, but to accelerate, Italian golf also needs top results.
The year 2023 was a little stingy with satisfactions in the grand tour, the DP World, while in the Challenge it really triumphed with four different winners – Matteo Manassero, Lorenzo Scalise, Andrea Pavan and Francesco Laporta – and thanks to the double of a total of five successes Manassero. And it is precisely because of these triumphs that we will have at least seven players with full cards on the DP World Tour in 2024, then there will also be the Qualifying School, which could increase the number. Together with Guido Migliozzi and the Molinari brothers Edoardo and Francesco, who have confirmed their card this year, there will also be the quartet of winners of the Challenge, a circuit where one more race is scheduled, the grand finale from 2 to 5 November in Mallorca, Spain, where only the top 45 ranked qualified. At the end, the top 20 in the overall ranking move up in the category. Scalise, Pavan and Manassero occupy 6th, 7th and 8th place respectively and are already on the verge of certain promotion. Thanks to his 3rd place in China at the Hainan Open, Laporta has moved up four levels and is now in 15th place on the “Road to Mallorca”, just one step away from arithmetic qualification.
The calculations
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Laporta can rest easy and start making plans for next year. To get out of the Magnificent 20, he would have to be overtaken by the six players behind him in the rankings. But for this to happen, the six pursuers would have to occupy all the top 6 places in the tournament and he is not allowed to make it into the top 30. In short, all it takes is for one of the six to finish seventh or worse and Laporta would be promoted. The Apulian would therefore fully return to the DP world after just a year of “purgatory”. Manassero’s return to the top is also very important. Matteo was the prodigy of our golf, ten years ago he won the PGA European Championship in Wentworth before slipping into a dramatic technical and emotional crisis. For three or four seasons he has begun a slow but steady rise that has finally brought him back to the place he deserves. In the meantime he married Francesca, who shaped both his private and his sporting life. Matteo won the two tournaments where she caddyed for him: first in Denmark and then in Italy, at the Golf Nazionale di Sutri. As he explained to Gazzetta: “Francesca gives me balance and takes away stress. She gives things a broader perspective just by being there. She handles every moment clearly and calmly, and that does me a lot of good. Twice with her.” As a caddy and two wins, that can’t be a coincidence. But the best thing is being able to share certain moments and certain emotions with her.”
Half grain
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Next year, among the seven will also be Francesco Molinari, who returned a few months ago with his entire family to Italy, to his Turin, leaving Los Angeles, where he moved in 2020 after many years in London. We can therefore expect a greater presence in European races. “That will definitely be the case, even if I currently want to play my cards in America until at least June. Unfortunately, the differences in the tournament are so big that it makes sense to keep playing there as long as I can for the points to be won. Then maybe in the summer I will give Europe more space until, hopefully, the Olympic Games.” Starting tomorrow, Chicco will be in action at the Andalusia Open together with his brother Edoardo and Migliozzi. The DP World Tour has just four races left, after Spain it will stop in Qatar, South Africa and conclude the season in Dubai from November 16th to 19th.
October 18th – 11:41 a.m
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