Italian Open: Henrik Stenson fires seven-under 64 to share first-round lead in Rome
Friday 3 September 2021 23:57, UK
Henrik Stenson started Ryder Cup month by giving Padraig Harrington another timely reminder of his golfing abilities as he made a flying start to the DS Automobiles Italian Open.
Stenson continued his encouraging recent form with a seven-under 64 at the Marco Simone Golf Club near Rome, the venue for the 2023 Ryder Cup, and his bogey-free opener earned him a share of the lead with Min Woo Lee and Kalle Samooja.
The top three lead by one from Edoardo Molinari, who fired a 65 and won a new car for making a spectacular hole-in-one at the seventh, while Eddie Pepperell and Scott Hend were also six under for the day with Tommy Fleetwood one further back.
Adri Arnaus threatened to set all manner of records when he made eight consecutive birdies to cover the back nine in just 28 shots, but the "59 watch" alarms were reset when he bogeyed the first and second and the Spaniard also had a double-bogey six at the eighth.
The day belonged to Stenson, who looked far from a Ryder Cup hopeful six weeks ago when he missed the cut at The Open, his fifth MC in six starts, and dropped out of the world's top 200 for the first time in 10 years.
The 45-year-old found some form in Prague and finished tied for fourth at the Czech Masters, and he enjoyed a podium finish at last week's Omega European Masters in Switzerland.
Get the best prices and book a round at one of 1,700 courses across the UK & Ireland
And with Harrington set to name his three captain's picks following the conclusion of European Ryder Cup qualifying at next week's BMW PGA Championship, Stenson's recent burst of good scoring has surely thrust him into the Irishman's thoughts.
"Once again I think I played a good round of golf," said Stenson, a five-time Ryder Cup player who was one of Thomas Bjorn's wildcard picks in 2018 and justified the Dane's faith when he won all three of his matches in Paris.
"I don't want to make any mistakes early in terms of missing greens, so the few times I did I managed to keep a clean card and made some lovely putts to keep it tidy, so very happy with that.
"It has been really good these last two or three weeks, I would be lying if I said I hadn't had good practice over the last couple of years, so it feels nice to keep it tidy and I have had a few bogey-free rounds.
"But it is kind of the same, we try and stay focused, stay patient and just keep on playing our game and improving at the same time.
"More than anything I feel like I am in a good frame of mind to play golf and to try and get the best score out of my game. There is still more to wish for, but we take the positives and keep on working on the rest."
Fleetwood was reunited with record-breaking Ryder Cup partner and close-friend Francesco Molinari, with whom he shared four wins in the 2018 edition, and playing with the Italian was perhaps the spark Fleetwood needed to rediscover his best touch.
The world No 38 is locked in for Whistling Straits but out of form having not had a top-10 finish in a stroke play event since March, but he put together a nice seven-birdie round marred only by a double-bogey five at the short 17th.
"I felt like in the back nine of the pro-am, I really enjoyed it and I was seeing shots and felt like I played really well, and I kind of brought that into today," said Fleetwood.
Live European Tour Golf
"Even if I did hit it out of position a couple of times, I think I had one of those days where I had two great pitch shots and made the pars to keep momentum going, obviously a little blip that we will ignore, but then a lovely way to finish there, making a birdie feels really good.
"I think it is a good test. I think it has some strong holes and opens itself to birdie chances, and I think it highlights the standard of golf getting higher and higher, and as a venue you can definitely see certain holes that will have an amazing atmosphere in a couple years' time, and I enjoyed playing today."
