Home comforts for Edoardo Molinari in Turin tourney

From Paul Symes, European Challenge Tour Press Officer
Italian Edoardo Molinari took advantage of home comforts to grab a share of the lead on the opening day of the Piemonte Open on the European Challenge Tour.
Playing at Golf Club La Mandria in his home town of Turin, the former US Amateur Champion opened with an eagle and carded a further five birdies to move to five under par, alongside fellow leader Jan-Are Larsen of Norway.
Molinari's round of 67 was a continuation of the fine form which saw him finish runner-up in the season-opening Club Colombia Masters presentado por Samsung on the Challenge Tour, and in a tie for 17th in the recent BMW Italian Open on The European Tour.
The Molinari family name was in the newspapers last week after elder brother Francesco set a new course record in The 3 Irish Open, only to be disqualified on the second day for signing for a wrong score.
But Edoardo is hoping to hit the headlines for the right reasons by adding the Piemonte Open to his two previous Challenge Tour titles, and so move a step closer to securing a return to The European Tour.
He said: “I play here nearly every day when I’m at home, so I know the course very well. It’s in great condition, and I feel like I’m playing well too. I’ve been working very hard on some changes to my swing over the winter, and I’m now striking the ball better than I’ve ever done. I’m now fading the ball instead of drawing it so it was a big change, but so far it’s working very well. Me and my brother are coached by Dennis Pugh, who’s been working with Colin Montgomerie for ten years, and it seems to be going well. All I need now is to hole a few more putts!
“I was obviously disappointed to lose my card last year, but I learned a lot from the experience and I’m sure I would feel more confident of keeping it next time. Hopefully I can get back on Tour to play again with my brother, who’s doing fantastically well at the moment. I played with him in the Italian Open, and from tee to green he was so good. Obviously he was really disappointed after what happened in The Irish Open, but it’s bound to happen once in your career.
"He’s been so consistent and he’s high up in the stroke averages, so I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before he wins another tournament.”
Molinari and Larsen are one shot clear of a quintet of players in a tie for third on four under par: England’s Robert Coles, Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts, France’s Olivier David, Spaniard Carlos Rodiles and Italian Marco Soffietti, the head professional at Golf Club La Mandria.
FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 72
67 J Larsen (Nor), E Molinari (Ita).
68 C Rodiles (Esp), N Colsaerts (Bel), R Coles (Eng), O David (Fra), M Soffietti (Ita).
69 R Steiner (Aut), M Morris (Eng), A Butterfield (Eng), M Crespi (Ita), P Gustafsson (Swe) , C Suneson (Esp), C Günther (Ger).
70 A Ahokas (Fin), J Guerrier (Fra), P Whiteford (Sco) , B Hebert (Fra), J Zapata (Arg) , B Miarka (Ger), C Moriarty (Irl), A McLean (Sco), D Marmion (Eng), F Calmels (Fra) , L Brovold (Nor), C Carranza (Arg) ,
71 J Quesne (Fra) , F Fritsch (Ger) , C Russo (Fra) , M Laskey (Wal) , J Clément (Sui) , F Colombo (Ita), L James (Eng) , J Arruti (Esp) , A Willey (Eng) , G Boyd (Eng) , S Henry (Sco) , A Bossert (Sui) , N Joakimides (Fra) , A Marshall (Eng) ,
72 M Jurgensen (Den) , M Wiegele (Aut) , A Tampion (Aus) , J McLeary (Sco), R McEvoy (Eng) , S Robinson (Eng) , P Baker (Eng) , R De Sousa (Sui) , J Colomo (Esp), M Rodriguez (Arg) , A Bruschi (Ita) , J Billot (Fra) , G Molteni (Ita) , B Pettersson (Swe), M Tullo (Chi) , J Grillon (Fra) , M Korhonen (Fin) , A Hansen (Den) , T Schuster (Ger), S Jeppesen (Swe) , K Jorgensen (Den) , W Schauman (Swe) , R Kakko (Fin) , M Higley (Eng) ,
73 L Westerberg (Swe) , T Whitehouse (Eng) , I Giner (Esp), E Ramsay (Sco) , M Cort (Eng) , A Zani (Ita) , G Gresse (Bel) , N Lemke (Swe) , B Evans (Eng), C Brazillier (Fra) , L Kennedy (Eng) , A Grenier (Fra) , N Maestroni (Ita) , G Shaw (Nir), M Zions (Aus) , G Paddison (Nzl) , B Mason (Eng) , J Abbate (Arg) , J Wahlqvist (Swe) , T Cruz (Por), S Reale (Ita) , N Smith (USA) , G Hutcheon (Sco), G Murray (Sco), C Gane (Eng).
74 J Bjerhag (Swe) , L Bond (Wal) , V Riu (Fra), E Lattanzi (Ita), J Parry (Eng) , A Wagner (Arg) , P Bocian (Swe) , D Nouailhac (Fra), G Houston (Wal), M Delpodio (Ita) , A McArthur (Sco) , J Morrison (Eng) , A Gee (Eng) , G Vicente Elena (Esp) , M Haastrup (Den) ,
75 A Högberg (Swe) , A Mörk (Fra) , J Sjöholm (Swe), L Saltman (Sco), C Monasterio (Arg) , D Küpper (Ger) , N Fox (Irl) , E Canonica (Ita) , I Pyman (Eng) , G Tonelli (Ita) , T Feyrsinger (Aut) , A Grammatica (am) (Ita) ,
76 D Griffiths (Eng) , R Swane (Ned) , R Treis (Ger) , J Moul (Eng) , P Purhonen (Fin) , S Brizzolari (Ita) , M Rominger (Sui) , J Boerdonk (Ned) , F Svanberg (Sui) ,
77 D Olsen (USA) , B Parker (Eng) , B Etchart (Esp) , R Santos (Por) , N Cabrera (Par) , P Terreni (Ita) , M Gojcic (Slo) , N Meitinger (Ger) , J Ruth (Eng) , P Bronson (USA) , T Dykes (Wal) , M Kramer (Ger) , O Floren (Swe).
78 A Perrino (Ita) , J Altonen (Fin) , B Lecuona (Fra) , J Forestier (Fra) , M Reale (Ita) , A Zanini (Ita) , D Ulrich (Sui) , A Haindl (RSA).
79 R Hie (Ina) , M Bernardini (Ita), K Sullivan (Wal).
80 I Garcia Avis (Esp) , A Rota (Ita).
81 S Piaget (Mon), M Guerisoli (Ita) , E Sesia (am) (Ita).
83 A Bernadet (Fra).
84 A Garbaccio (am) (Ita).