Italian Open: Betting Tips & How To Watch

The European Tour heads to Italy this week for the second consecutive Rolex Series event: The Italian Open. Find out who to back this week and how to watch… 

With increased Ryder Cup points on offer and a purse of $7,000,000, the Italian Open marks the second Rolex Series event of the year with plenty of Europe’s best players teeing up this week.

Francesco Molinari heads to Gardagolf CC, Brescia, Italy as the bookies favourite thanks to his two-shot victory over Rory McIlroy at the BMW PGA Championship last week, and will be hoping to add a third Italian Open victory to his list of accolades.

Nine time European Tour Champion Alex Noren, who finished T3 at Wentworth, is among the other strong favourites this week, as well as World No.11 Tommy Fleetwood and an in-form Ian Poulter, who is continuing his bid to return to the European Ryder Cup side this September. 

Meanwhile, defending champion Tyrrell Hatton will be hoping to reignite some form after missing three of his last four cuts. 

So who should you back this week? 

Italian Open: TV Schedule/How To Watch 

Click here for a full list of tee times

Wednesday
Live On The Range: Live European Tour, Sky Sports Golf (14:00)

Thursday
Sky Sports Main Event (09:30), Sky Sports Golf (09:30)

Friday
Sky Sports Golf (09:30)

Saturday & Sunday
Sky Sports Golf (11:30)

Italian Open: Betting Tips

Francesco Molinari: 9/1
There is no escaping Molinari’s incredible record at the Italian Open: Two wins, four top 10s and five top 20s. Paired with his impressive display which led him to a 5th European Tour victory at Wentworth last week, it’s no surprise he’s currently pegged as the favourite. 

Alex Noren: 9/1
Noren’s bid to become the fourth player to defend the BMW PGA Championship came up a few shots short, but he still notched up his third 3rd-place finish in his last eight starts. It’s been a mixed bag of a season and the Swede doesn’t have the best record here (best of T38 in 2017), but he is ranked inside the top 15 on the PGA Tour for SG:Putting and Scoring Average. 

Tommy Fleetwood: 11/1
The 2017 Race to Dubai Champion won early on in the season, and with the exception of one MC at Wells Fargo, hasn’t finished worse than T26 since February. Followed up a T7 at The Players with a T20 at Wentworth which included a stumbling third round 77. Has gone T7-T6 in his last two starts at the Italian Open. Ranks 5th on European Tour for Scoring Average, SG: Tee To Green and 3rd for Greens In Regulation. 

Matt Fitzpatrick: 16/1
Fitzpatrick showed a resurgence in form with a T8 at Wentworth last week, and will hope to improving to build on that this week to improve his position in the Ryder Cup standings. In three appearances at the Italian Open has finished T3, T16 and T15.  

Ian Poulter: 18/1
An in-form Poulter won his first title in six years at the Houston Open in April, and has since gone T44-T7-T11-T20. Another player targetting the Ryder Cup team in September, Poulter is now focusing on putting in results on the European Tour, and given that he has gone from 207th in the World to 27th in the space of 15 months we think he could be a good bet this week.

Rafa Cabrera-Bello: 18/1
The 2017 Scottish Open Champion followed up a T17 at The Players Championship with a T8 last week in Wentworth and is another player hoping to build on that form this week. He also finished T12 the last time he teed up at the Italian Open in 2016. 

Andy Sullivan: 30/1
A return to form for Sullivan in the past few months as he targets the Ryder Cup includes three top 10s and a worse finish of T35 in eight starts on Tour. Missed the cut here last year but went T11-T20 in his previous two starts. 

Lucas Bjerregaard: 40/1
A definite one to watch this week, Bjeregaard put on an impressive final round display to finish T3 at the BMW PGA Championship for his third top 6 finish in a row. MC last year but was T3 in 2015 and T20 last year. 

Paul Dunne: 40/1
Despite two missed cuts, Dunne has sandwiched four top 10s in his last six starts and triumphed with Gavin Moynihan for an Irish victory at GolfSixes a few weeks ago so it would be silly to rule him out. T26 last year. 

Robert Rock: 80/1
A riskier bet but a good outside chance given Rock has a top 10 and two top 20s in his last six starts, which included a T20 at the BMW PGA Championship last week. He was also a winner here in 2011.