Fantasy Golf Picks & Predictions – 2016 Italian Open

European Tour Fantasy Golf Picks and Predictions for the 2016 Italian Open

The 2016 Italian Open Fantasy Preview

The Italian Open, the seventh event which has been featured on the European Tour since its inception back in 1972, is the next tournament up overseas.  A very strong group of golfers will be making the trek to Monza, Italy and the Golf Club Milano for an outing that typically features an above-average field thanks to the PGA TOUR being on break until next week for the TOUR Championship.  The par-72, 7,156-yard course seems to be ripe for scoring and will be looking for its first home winner since Francesco Molinari did so back in 2006.

Last season it was amateur Lorenzo Scalise who was the low Italian, finishing in a tie for 11^th behind a 16-under performance as he found himself looking up to the top of the leaderboard at champion Rikard Karlberg.  The Swedish-born golfer was able to gain three strokes on Martin Kaymer over the final day of competition, tying him at 19 shots under par after 72 holes.  He then was able to grab his first career victory on the European Tour with a birdie on the second playoff hole.  A win this week for Karlberg would mark the first time that a player has successfully defended his Italian Open win and would put him in the company of Sandy Lyle (1984, 1992), Sam Torrence (1987, 1995), Bernhard Langer (1983, 1997), Ian Polter (2000, 2002), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (2007, 2012), and Hennie Otto (2008, 2014) as multiple-time victors here.  It was no surprise to see Karlberg’s low score or that the event went into extra holes as the winner has averaged 19.3 strokes better than par with 8-of-10 tournaments ending with a margin of victory of two or less in the past decade.

The field should be a fun one to watch this week, with the likes of Martin Kaymer, Byeong Hun An, Matthew Fitzpatrick, current Race to Dubai leader Danny Willett, and last week’s winner, Joost Luiten, leading the charge.  Some other big names making the trip to Italy include Lee Westwood, Rafael Cabrera Bello, top Italian Francesco Molinari, Soren Kjeldsen, and Andy Sullivan.  With the Ryder Cup on the horizon, it will be interesting to see how the European team is playing as the big event comes just a couple of weeks down the road, and four of the already mentioned players (Kaymer, Westwood, Fitzpatrick, and Sullivan) along with Chris Wood will be warming up while looking to defeat the United States for the fourth consecutive year starting September 30^th.

The plethora of scoring and big names joining the entrants list for this week’s event should provide an exciting atmosphere in daily fantasy sports as we continue to hone our skills with the players overseas.  There certainly will be plenty of eyes on this event with the PGA TOUR being on break, and hopefully our selections can give you a leg up on the field as you look to make some money in both cash and GPP leagues.

The Italian Open Fantasy Picks and Predictions

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Cover photo via Instagram.