Fantasy Golf Tournament Preview- Italian Open (European Tour)

OVERVIEW
To hold myself accountable and keep track of how things are going on a week to week basis. This should help me get better at identifying key players as well as sharpening my eye when it comes to player pools. Last week’s recommendations were Rahm (winner), Rafa (2nd), Sergio (T7), Korhonen (T17), Bjork (MC), Larrazabal (T33), Winther (T4), Walters (68th), Pavan (T12), Evans (T37), but missed cuts came from Campillo, Lemke, Gagli, Bhullar, Li, Leon, Paratore, and Fdez-Castano means we could’ve built lineups with 2 players in the Top 5 and nobody else made the cut. As I mentioned, last week I was at a crossroads as to how I was going to build my lineups, and that didn’t change as I built two stars and scrubs lineups and one balanced. Naturally the balanced lineup did better than the other two, but it was a loss on the week.

This week we head to Italy for the Italian Open. This course hasn’t hosted the event since 2002, when Ian Poulter beat Paul Lawrie, but the guts of the course remain the same and we should be targeting the same type of player as Poulter – accurate off the tee, strong ball striker and good lag putter. The course is long at just over 7,500 yards, the fairways are wide, but also tree-lined making the property feel tighter than it is and the greens are large with a good amount of bunkering around them as protection from low scores. Water comes into play on five holes, but the bigger issue is the rough and trees. The Par 3’s are tough here as they average over 200 yards long and there are six Par 4’s that measure over 450 yards. Being accurate with your long irons is something I’d look for in my player selection this week. I’d expect more of what we’ve seen in the past at this event and the winning score should be around -18 to -20.

TOURNAMENT BACKGROUND
o The Course
• Olgiata Golf Club
• Par: 71
• Yardage: 7,500 yards
• Greens: Bentgrass
o Location: Largo Olgiata, Italy
o Past Champions: None at this course
• 2018: Thorbjorn Olesen -22 over Francesco Molinari
• 2017: Tyrrell Hatton -21 over Kiradech Aphibarnrat & Ross Fisher
• 2016: Francesco Molinari -22 over Danny Willett
• 2015: Rikard Karlberg -19 in a playoff over Martin Kaymer

KEY STATS TO TARGET
o Strong Emphasis – SG: OTT + SG: APP, Par 5 scoring, Birdies or better, Scrambling
o Important – Par 4 Scoring, Par 3 scoring (look for guys who manage them well), Current Form

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