European Tour: Italian Open Power Rankings

We’re going with a local flavor for the top spot, and for good reason.

Francesco Molinari can add on to a successful 2017 with a title defense at Golf Club Milano where he won at 22-under in 2016.

His win last year made him the first Italian to win his national open for the second time. Molinari’s first was as a 23-year-old in 2006 at Castello di Tolcinasco.

Now 33, Molinari comes to Parco Reale di Monza in fine recent form with top-25 finishes in eight of his last 14 events. That includes second place at two of the toughest global tests, the BMW PGA Championship and the PGA Championship.

According to a recent New York Times profile on Molinari, he’s added five yards off the tee while maintaining his surgeon-like precision finding fairways that carries down to his irons: Molinari finished third on the PGA Tour in 2016-17 in strokes gained approach-the-green.

Molinari should be all in for this week as he’s coming off of three weeks of rest and is not committed to next week’s Andalucía Masters.

In 2015, the only other Italian Open played at Golf Club Milano, Molinari tied for 20th at 14-under, five off the pace. Seven of his eight rounds at Milano have been in the 60s Since 2005, Molinari has played the Italian Open every year except for 2010. Molinari hasn’t missed a cut since 2008 and has nine top-20s at this event across four host sites.