For the 4th consecutive year the Italian Open, the highest national golf event, will be held in Lombardy. If the three previous editions were hosted by the Golf Club Milano in the splendid setting of the Villa Reale in Monza, the Open 2018 will return instead, after the 1997 and 2003 editions, to the Gardagolf Country Club, on the shores of the magnificent Lake Garda, typically one of the favorite destinations for Italian and foreign tourists.

The historic sporting event that comes this year to the 75th edition was strongly supported by the Regional Government of Lombardy and is part of the broader framework for the strategic promotion of the Region towards the many guests who attend this quest for most of the year. area.

In fact, in Lombardy, there are not only 11 UNESCO sites, but a strategic vision is increasingly consolidating, pointing to an intense relationship between sport, culture and tourism as a mix of levers able to attract visitors and enhance the heritage of the territory. Also for this reason 2017 has been celebrated as Tourism Year in Lombardy with a rich program of events and events throughout the year.

And the numbers registered by Open 2017 confirm the sensibility of the direction taken: the last edition established a new record of spectators with 73,000 appearances in four days of competition. A result that, in addition to underlining the growing interest in our country for the discipline and related events, certifies the correct functioning of this systemic approach. An approach that proves capable of generating virtuous circles, in this case, offering golf enthusiasts more and more interesting reasons to go to the event and take advantage of the opportunity to satisfy other needs, such as the cultural one.

Moreover, this year the Tournament returns to be among the eight prestigious races of the Rolex Series, the world-level events in the European Tour calendar, thus adding even more interest for the event to its target audience.

Franco Chimenti, President of the Italian Golf Federation, commented on the news: “We are very happy to come back to a fantastic place like the Gardagolf Country Club for the 75th Italian Open. Our tournament, of great tradition and with a lot of history behind it, has seen many of the best players in the world perform on our best tracks. Now it has become part of the prestigious events of the Rolex Series and I have no doubt that the next edition will be a great success “.

In turn, Keith Waters, Chief Operating Officer of the European Tour, also validated the choice by commenting: “We are pleased to return to the Gardagolf Country Club, one of the best Italian courses, and we are happy that our players and enthusiasts Italian golfers will be able to experience a Rolex Series event in an extraordinary context such as Lake Garda.“