With the focus of European golf on Italy in the BMW Italian Open presented by CartaSi, what better time to examine the “miracle” of the last 18 months that saw Matteo Manassero and the Molinari brothers fly the Italian flag at the summit of the golfing world.
The word “miracle” is not used lightly by Donato Di Ponziano, a hugely influential golf administrator who is currently the Deputy Chairman of the PGAs of Europe whilst sitting on the Boards of Ryder Cup Europe and The Ryder Cup Benevolent Fund. As you can probably tell by the name, Di Ponziano is also a passionate Italian.
With 20 years’ experience of working with and alongside the Italian Golf Federation and the PGA of Italy within the system that produced Italy’s current three superstar players – who have won five events between them in the last year alone – there are fewer better judges on hand to assess Italian golf than Di Ponziano.
He is the first to acknowledge the freakish nature of a country of Italy’s golfing stature producing three players – two of them brothers – of the sheer quality of Manassero and the Molinaris in the same generation, but he is also quick to point out that the current system in place in Italy, and indeed throughout most European countries, is what allows the miracles to flourish.
“The Molinaris and Matteo came into the Italian system when they were eight or nine years old, and from there they were brought on as young amateurs, then amateurs and national teams and then young professionals and then professional on Tour,” explained Di Ponziano.
“They attended the School of the Federation and went through a programme that has been established for many years and that is now clearly showing results.
“Another important thing that we have invested in is tournaments, because now we have our national circuit, where we have Challenge Tour events and European Tour events that are included of the schedules of both the PGA of Italy and the Federation.
“The two bodies are very close and we are not fighting. Professionals and amateurs together and working for the same target is something that I think it is extremely important because if you can work together you have more chance to get the players through.
“Edoardo actually came through every level of golf in the Italian system. He had the perfect ascension, from the Italian Federation as an amateur to professional, coming through the Challenge Tour and European Tour and making it to The Ryder Cup.
“You have to say the fact we have three players of that quality at the same time is a miracle. We have around the same amount of people playing golf in our whole country as there are playing in the London area. When you think of it that way, it becomes like a kind of Sistine Chapel: a real miracle.”
The effects of the miracle are being felt in Italy, but there is still a long way to go in a country where golf is still seen in some quarters as a minority sport with the stigma of being ‘a rich man’s game’.
With the Sicilian Open (won by Raphaël Jacquelin in March) joining the BMW Italian Open on The European Tour Schedule this year, and four Challenge Tour events including the Apulia San Domenico Grand Final, Italy is steadily increasing its influence in Europe and giving it players more and more opportunities to follow the path of the Molinaris and Manassero.
The three stars of today and their continued success will be hugely important for the game in Italy in terms of giving the sport a higher profile and making the game more accessible in a nation obsessed by all things football.
“The three boys have made the awareness of golf in Italy as high as it’s ever been,” said Di Ponziano. “Unfortunately we are not improving so much the number of players, but we think that, first of all, we have to develop the culture, and then we can try to increase the numbers.
“We are lucky because the boys are all very good ambassadors for Italian golf and they all have great presence. You saw the bothers at The Ryder Cup and then you have Matteo, who stood in front of a thousand people at the Olympic Committee Meeting on golf when he was 16 years old and gave such a strong presentation. Being able to do that is very important.”
“We must now try to use these players as instruments to show how good we can be and how important golf can be. When you have players as high profile as them you can start to attract investment for more public courses and facilities, more coaching and everything that you need to grow the game.
“The most important thing for developing top professionals is that we have the School of the Federation. It is a miracle that Matteo, Edoardo and Francesco have all made it to the very top level at the same time but we sometimes see that in sport in our country. We often find superstars in many sports – I’m not sure why, I think it must just be the DNA of the country.
“But there has to be acknowledgement of the efforts of everyone at the Federation and the PGA and the work we have done. Everything really began with Costantino Rocca and then from him, the School was started and that is the most important part of the system. We have the school. Matteo, Edoardo and Francesco all came through that specific programme and that's very important.”
