Nothing beats playing at home and this week Virginia Elena Carta is hopeful such privilege can spark her season into life as she looks to earn a spot at the Olympic Games.
The 27-year-old currently sits just outside qualification for Paris 2024 with this week’s Ladies Italian Open serving as the penultimate event before the deadline closes on June 24.
Teeing up as one of 10 Italian players at Golf Nazionale – the site used as the Italian Golf Federation’s training base – Carta is excited for the tournament as she looks to use home support to change her fortunes and punch her ticket to Paris.
“It feels great to be here,” the Italian said. “Whenever you get to play at home it’s always an honour and a privilege. You just have to take that with you on the course and know that regardless of how it goes, it’s a privilege.
“It’s definitely a busy week! Every time we play the Ladies Italian Open, it feels like the busiest week of the year. But that’s nice because it means you have some traction. So that’s good. I feel excited about the week. I’ve known about the course [Golf Nazionale] for a long time, but I’ve only seen it in winter conditions. This is the first time I’ve played it in the summer. But I’m excited and hopefully I can drop some more putts this week!”
Carta is leading the home charge alongside Alessandra Fanali this week with both stars aided by having coaches from the national team present in Lazio.
She continiued: “I had a practice round with Ale [Fanali] yesterday. She knows the course better than me and we were able to look at the places where you can go, and where you really should not miss. So it was helpful to have local knowledge. [LET winner] Diana Luna is obviously here as well. She is from this course so she is a great asset to have this week.
“It’s great having my team here. I have been struggling for quite a while with my putting. So having my coaches here this week, [having] the help and the support that I’ve needed, it feels great. My mum is here. She won’t be caddying but she will be hanging around!”
Carta currently sits 79th in the LET Order of Merit having had difficulties on the putting greens this season. With just two events remaining within Olympic qualification [the Italian Ladies Open and next week’s Czech Ladies Open], the Italian has been putting in extra work ahead of the “crucial” fortnight.
The Milan-born Italian said: “It’s difficult because I’ve been inside the top 60 for the past three years. And just a few weeks ago I fell out. So these two weeks are crucial for Olympic qualification. I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself. If I qualify, great. If not, I will get on with my year. There are still so many great tournaments to play on the LET and I have a lot of goals for the year beyond the Olympics. I know if I can reach certain technical goals within these two weeks the scores will come. But I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself scoring or performance wise.
“I’m positive. I’ve made a lot of technical changes over the past two weeks. I’ve spent a lot of time on my game. The past few years have been really difficult for me on the putting green. I’ve put a lot of work and resources into my putting. I’ve done a really good these past two weeks and have done a lot of work with my putting coach. I’m hoping it will pay off this week and this will be the week.”
Carta gets underway at the 54-hole Ladies Italian Open at 13:56 on Friday playing alongside England’s Cara Gainer and Finland’s Ursula Wikström who is also targeting an Olympic spot.
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