Special Places - Royal Park Country Club

The European PGA Tour pays its second visit of the year to Italy for the BMW Italian Open, appropriately hosted in the “Motor City” of Turin, home of Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Lancia, and capital of the Piedmont region. This is the third year that Royal Park Country Club is the venue for the Italian Open, a tournament that was first contested in 1925 and which has been on the European Tour schedule since the tour’s inception in 1972. Royal Park boasts two courses, the first European design by prolific American architect Michael Hurdzan, and the Open layout by the iconic Robert Trent Jones Sr whose credits include Hazeltine and Spyglass Hill, and re-designs on Augusta National and Baltusrol. Trent Jones was noted for artistic use of landscaping and deft placement of hazards and greens to encourage a high level of strategy and course management, balancing risk and reward to encourage daring play.

Royal Park Country Club is located in former royal hunting grounds in la Mandria Regional Park and is laid out over gently rolling terrain with stunning mountain scenery as the backdrop. Jones’ 1971 design is true to his golfing ethos, with every drive requiring precise placement in order to be in position to attack the pins. The first two holes are doglegs right with water in play and bunkers strategically placed both off the tee and guarding the greens. The 5th is a 557m par 5 with a small triangular green flanked by water on two sides and a sand trap on the other. The 7th and 9th are short par 4s under 350 metres that will see the longest hitters going for the green if the tees are up. The back nine starts by offering two great birdie opportunities with a short par 4 and a reachable par 5 before a tough four hole stretch from 14 to 17. The round ends with the chance of birdie or better for the braver players on the picturesque par 5 finishing hole.

2006 champion Francesco Molinari and teenage sensation Matteo Manassero – respectively world numbers 20 and 30 - will be looking to delight their home fans with a victory in the final warm-up before next week’s second major of the year, the US Open.

Golfweather Editorial