- Ladies Italian Open, with a view to the Olympic Games, June 14-16 at Golf Nazionale
- The 27th edition of the tournament returns to Lazio after a 17-year wait
- Included in the Ladies European Tour schedule, it will represent the penultimate qualifying event for the Olympic Games
- FIG President Franco Chimenti: “It will be a great event in a crucial race towards Paris.”
Seventeen years after the last time, the Ladies Italian Open will return to Lazio. From June 14 to 16, (with a Pro-Am on Thursday 13) the 27th edition of the tournament will be included in the schedule of the Ladies European Tour (LET) – the top European women’s circuit – and will be played at the Golf Nazionale (Sutri, Viterbo). In the “house of Italian golf”, there is anticipation for a show with a view of the Olympics as the event will represent the penultimate qualifying stage for the Paris Olympic Games.
After four consecutive editions, from 2004 (Parco di Roma) to 2007 (three in a row, since 2005, at Parco de’ Medici), the Ladies Italian Open will be held again in Lazio where the Italian professionals will try to chase the first success in the history of the competition.
So far, in fact, five second places have been achieved respectively by Silvia Cavalleri (2000 and 2002), Veronica Zorzi (2005), Giulia Sergas (2011) and Alessandra Fanali, who in 2022, the year of the last edition of the event, at the Margara Golf Club in Fubine Monferrato (Alessandria), Piedmont, was beaten in the playoff by Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux in a three-way playoff that also saw English woman Meghan MacLaren among the protagonists.
Having since turned professional, Fanali, a 24-year-old from Fiuggi, will be one of the competition’s most eagerly awaited stars. The best Italian in the world ranking, she boasts six top-10 finishes on Tour and is now 10th in the Order of Merit. Fanali was runner-up in February at the Magical Kenya Open won by Singapore’s Shannon Tan, with home star Virginia Elena Carta, also in the hunt for an Olympic pass, she will try to light up the scene along with many other stars and up-and-coming names in women’s golf.
It will be a very interesting June. First the Ladies Italian Open, then, from the 27th to the 30th at the Adriatic Golf Club in Cervia, Emilia-Romagna, the Men’s Italian Open. From female professionals to male professionals, it will be double the spectacle.
For the Golf Nazionale in Sutri, an excellence that over time has hosted such highlights as, among others, the 1991 World Cup and the 2023 Junior Ryder Cup (for the first two days), the Ladies Italian Open represents a first.
Lazio, which from 2021 to 2023 hosted – at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Guidonia Montecelio, last year’s home of the Ryder Cup – the men’s Italian Open, will be the site of the Ladies Italian Open for the fifth time in history. The event, with the collaboration of the FIG’s official advisor, Infront, will have the support of the Lazio Region, led by President Francesco Rocca.
The Ladies Italian Open will put 300,000 Euros up for prize money with a first prize of 45,000 Euros.
Franco Chimenti, President of the Italian Golf Federation – “In my life, I have always kept my promises. I had guaranteed, against all odds, that this year in addition to the Men’s Italian Open we would also organise the Ladies Italian Open. Not so much to do so, but to ensure the best possible show. In fact, the tournament will be among the most important on the Ladies European Tour 2024 and will be a crucial stage for qualifying for the Olympic Games. The Ladies Italian Open 2024 will feature many of the best female players in European golf who will compete for the title on a course, the Golf Nazionale, that represents world-class excellence. Special thanks to the Lazio Region, led by an enlightened President Francesco Rocca, who believed in the event’s potential from the very beginning, and to the Ladies European Tour.”
Alexandra Armas, CEO of the Ladies European Tour: “We are thrilled to be able to welcome the Ladies Italian Open back on the LET schedule for 2024. After successful editions in 2021 and 2022, it is great to be able to return to Italy once again and add this tournament to our European swing in June. I’d like to thank the Federazione Italiana Golf for all their hard work and their commitment to the women’s game and we’re looking forward to playing at Golf Nazionale, which will be a fantastic stage to showcase the best of European women’s golf.”
Francesco Rocca, President of Lazio Region – “After seventeen years, the Ladies Italian Open returns to Lazio, to the amazing Sutri National Golf Course in the province of Viterbo from June 14 to 16. The Region has been a protagonist from the beginning, together with the Italian Golf Federation and the Ladies European Tour, to support this important stage for the qualification for the Olympic Games. After the Ryder Cup, hosted last year at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Guidonia Montecelio, Lazio continues to be the Region Capital of Italian sport, hosting the penultimate Olympic qualifying event. An important achievement for the whole Region.”
