Italian Open Golf Betting Tips and Offers – 15th September 2016

Italian Open Tips and Betting Offers, Thursday 15th September 2016, Golf Club Milano

The European Tour takes the entire golfing spotlight this week as the PGA Tour takes a week long break ahead of the TOUR Championship. As ever at this time of the year, that means it is time for a top class event on mainland Europe. Specifically, the Italian Open. Held at the historic Golf Club Milano, a strong field has assembled for a tournament which has been part of the European Tour ever since it began in 1972.

The course at the Golf Club Milano is a 7,156 yard, par 71. The parkland layout has a huge number of trees lining the fairways which makes it a fairly tough test of driving. Members will tell you that it is vital to keep your ball on the fairway from the tees but the event organisers are content to keep the rough short which hands a bit of an advantage to the longer hitters.

Even so, this is far from a bomber’s paradise. Previous events at the Monza course show that course management is a key attribute. You might get away with playing out of the rough fairly often but anybody who does not hit the majority of greens in regulation can forget about contending.

Last year’s tournament also showed that this course can turn around and bite anybody who suffers a dip in their concentration levels. On the Sunday, Martin Kaymer was streaking away from the field only to hit a poor four hole stretch. That allowed Rikard Karlberg back into contention and the Swede completed the job in a playoff. Both men are back in the field this week but we’re going to side with two others for our betting tips.

The first man to back would probably be the most popular winner possible. Francesco Molinari plays the majority of his golf on the PGA Tour nowadays but he still makes sure to play in his national open whenever his calendar allows. Molinari will get a huge amount of support from the galleries and a fair amount of confidence from the setup of the course. The Italian bases his game around hitting fairways and greens which is a recipe for success around the Golf Club Milano. If he can deal with the nerves and expectation, Molinari can delight the crowds just like Joost Luiten did in Holland last week at odds of 28/1 with BetVictor.

Anybody who wants to win this week will have to hit a very high number of birdies. It took a score of -19 to make the playoff last year so players capable of hitting the front with aggressive golf are worth siding with. At 100/1 with Ladbrokes, Alex Levy is one such player. The Frenchman is in decent form, has a top quality all round game and is looking for points to boost his Race to Dubai rankings. If Levy gets going this week he can add himself to the list of long odds winners of the Italian Open.