Italian Challenge Open kicks off, victory in Pro-Am for Fallotico team
With the Pro-Am the curtain has risen on the Italian Challenge Open, a stage of the HotelPlanner Tour that from May 7 to 10 will bring the protagonists of the second European circuit to the Golf Nazionale di Sutri (VT). The tournament, which will see 155 players representing 24 nations at the start, is the third seasonal event of the Italian Pro Tour presented by Buccellati, after the Villa Paradiso Alps Open and the Miglianico Alps Open.
To open the program was the Pro-Am, played over the distance of 18 holes with the “Tour Scramble – net aggregate team score in relation to par” and “Use your pro” formula. Imposing with a score of “minus 44” was the team led by Lucas Nicolas Fallotico, flanked by Agapito Sforzini, Maurizio Paolini and Massimo Tempesta. Second place with “minus 35” for the team of Englishman David Horsey, along with Federico Carletti, Flaminia Cilento and Bruno Cirulli, while in third place with “minus 34” was the lineup of Lorenzo Scalise with Armando Borghi, Antonio Villa and Riccardo Vignolo.
The Pro-Am was also attended by former soccer player Giuseppe Incocciati and, confirming how golf is an inclusive sport open to all, the three Paralympic athletes Alessandro Petrianni, Edoardo Biagi and Antonino Puccio.
During the awards ceremony, in the presence of Armando Antonio Carole Borghi, President of National Golf and Federal Adviser, and Vittorio Andrea Vaccaro, Federal Adviser representing professional athletes, the FIG awarded the members of the top three ranked teams with the volume “Only the Greats Win Like This,” a 304-page celebratory book dedicated to golf and promoted by the Franco Chimenti Foundation. The volume, which is available on the Foundation’s website, is the first initiative in a series of projects desired by the Chimenti family to support the growth of new generations of golfers and fund medical research.
Then, from Wednesday, the stars of the HotelPlanner Tour will take the stage, with an outstanding field. Among the most eagerly awaited are England’s Will Enefer, number 2 on the Road to Mallorca, and South Africa’s MJ Viljoen, number 3 on the Order of Merit, both of whom have already won this season. Great attention is also paid to South African Deon Germishuys (4), Sweden’s Christofer Blomstrand (6), France’s Maxence Giboudot (9), the U.S.’s Jhared Hack (10) and India’s Saptak Talwar (11), with the latter two returning from second place in the recent DP World PGTI Open.
