Can Team USA Retain Ryder Cup in Italy in 2023?
It’s Italy’s turn for some Ryder Cup fun at home.
Italy will host the tournament for the first time, at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club near Rome. That’s where Team USA will try to keep the cup it won at Whistling Straights in 2021. Restrictions to play because of COVID-19 caused the event to be moved to 2020.
The Ryder Cup pits Europe against the United States every two years. Each team alternates as a host.
Revisions to a Classic: Marco Simone
Fans get amazing views of the course and St. Peter’s Basilica and the Castle of Marco Simone. Players have compelling risk/reward holes highlighted in match play.
A course refresh from 2019-21 should add a new dimension to the competition. The final three holes are especially intriguing. No. 16 is a drivable par 4, with water on the right and a creek running to the green. No. 17, a 180-yard par 3, is ripe for birdies if players are strong on the approach.
There’s a long par 5 to finish, with water to the left of the sloping green.
European Golf Design was responsible for the redesign of the Jim Fazio course. His son, Tom Fazio II, worked with EGD on the project. Marco Simone is the third course in continental Europe to host matches. Sotogrande in 1997 (Spain) and Le Golf National in 2018 (France) are the others.
The course hosted the Italian Open in 1994.
Gian Paolo Montali is the Ryder Cup 2002 Project director. He said the course would be completely different.
“The Ryder Cup will be something else,” Montali told Golfweek. “In the beginning, we thought about a light restyling of the course. However, it was designed with environmental sustainability in mind. The benefits of the work will also be enjoyed after the 2023 Ryder Cup.”
Italy’s impact on Ryder Cup history
Italians have played pivotal roles in European success in the Ryder Cup. In 1997, Constantino Rocca beat Tiger Woods in singles. In 2018 in Paris, Francesco Molinari posted the first 5-0 record in tournament history.
Being chosen as host is a big deal not only in Italian golf but also in its entire sports scene, says Franco Chimenti. He’s president of Federazione Italian Golf.
“The incredible setting of Rome will enhance the event, making it unique,” Chimenti said. “The project is what we imagined, and above all what those who believed in this project imagined.”
The could see a boost to the local economy, if the 2018 Ryder Cup in France is an indication.
More than 270,000 fans attended the event at Le Gold National in Paris. That was a record crowd, according to the European Tour. The financial impact: 235 million euros ($275 million U.S.)
What About Future Cups?
The Ryder Cup will return to the U.S. in 2025. Bethpage Black on Long Island, N.Y., will host the event for the third time. It’s also been the site of a PGA Championship and the PGA Tour event, The Barclays, twice.
After that, it’s off to Ireland in 2027.
It will be the second Ryder Cup at The Golf Course at Adare Manor in County Limerick. The Ryder Cup debuted in Ireland in 2006, a big win for Europe at K Club in County Kildare, an Arnold Palmer design. Adare Manor has hosted the Irish Open twice since the course opened in 1995.
In 2029, the teams will compete at Hazeltine National Golf Course in Chaska, Minn. Sites for Europe’s turn aren’t set beyond that. But for U.S. destinations:
2033: The Olympic Club, San Francisco.
2037: Congressional Country Club, Bethesda, Md.
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