Third trial successful for Quintarelli

Nicolo Quintarelli (pict Davide Da Ponte) grabbed his maiden win on home soil at Internorm Dolomoti Open. He fired amazing record of the day 65, 8 under par to win with a 2 stroke advantage at -11. Overnight leader England’s Andrew Colley could not score better than 74 and slept to the final 7th place. With a -9 total, three players tied second place, Swiss Fredrik Svanberg and Italy’s Alessandro Grammatica and Luca Galliano.

Italy’s Quintarelli is playing for the first year on pro circuit. He entered the Alps Tour after finishing 13th at Q school. The young 23 year old player from Padova area had a great amateur career and experts has been betting on him for a while. He had 2 great results in the past 2 months with 2 runner-up places in Italy. In July he was second at Montecchia Open and 3 weeks ago had the same result in cool weather during Cervinio Open.

With this win, Quintarelli enters the top 5 of the Alps Tour ranking.

By Agathe Séron

Andrew Cooley made his move

England’s Andrew Cooley, 23 year old, is leading once again an Alps Tour Event this year. He completed his second round with solid 69, 4 under to take pole position at -8 over Italy’s overnight leader Alessandro Grammatica and fellow Luca Galliano.

English rookie was in the same position last July in Madrid. But he did not have enough experience to win over “oldy but goody” Santiago Luna. Months later, young player from Chobham Golf Club in Surrey, south of London, might use his experience to grab his maiden win.

Young guns playing on their home soil will try to disturb his plan taking the trophy of Internorm Dolomiti Open. Grammatica signed for 71 today for -6 total and Galliano carded 69 to be one stroke behind. The cut is fixed at + 2 including on Italian amateur, Stefano Pitoni and one from Austria, Lukas Nemecz.

By Agathe Séron

Federico Elli fired -5 in Internorm Trentino Dolomiti Open

Italy’s Federico Elli won the PGAI Maestri Championship this year in Bogogno. The teaching pro was the best today amoung those playing tournaments all year. Elli did not drop any shot and holed five birdies to lead by one at Internorm Trentino Dolomiti Open.

England’s rookie, Andrew Cooley shares second place with 2 Italians, Andrea Zanini and Alessandro Grammatica. Grammatica certainly improved his game last week where he had the chance to play his national Open on the European Tour.

Current leader of the Alps tour order of merit, Irish Gareth Shaw shot 2 under par to tie for 10th place. The projected cut after one round is +1 including one amateur, Valerio Pelliccia.

2012 Internorm Trentino Dolomiti Open

Final preparations are waiting for the second edition of the Internorm Trentino Dolomiti Golf Open which will take place from Thursday, September 20 to Saturday 22. Today, there is an interesting prologue event, the Pro Am Rasom Wood Technology, which will give the opportunity to see some of the players in the field, who compete in the tournament. After the experience of the Valle d’Aosta Golf Open, held at the Cervino Golf Club at 2,050 meters above sea level, both Alps Tour and Pilsner Urquell Pro Tour return to share, even if lower, the picturesque Dolomiti Golf Club about a thousand meters.

The tournament will focus on the Val di Non area, that focuses on golf as a vehicle to promote tourism. To this end we have launched the initiative “Stay and Play” which allows guests staying in participating hotels can practice for free at the Dolomiti Golf Open” said Andrea Paternoster, President of the APT Val di Non.
Luca Borzaga, CEO of the host club, has announced special prizes for the audience present at the event. Admission is free, but viewers will have to register to be able to participate in the prize: the first will receive a subscription to the club throughout the season.

Internorn Trentino Dolomiti Golf Open attended by 132 players including sixty Italians. The defending champion, Farren Keenan will try to win for a second time.
Among best players, eight Alps Tour winners: the British Jack Senior and Chris McDonnell, the French Thomas Fournier, Sebastien Gros, Jerome Lando-Casanova, Xavier Poncelet, Irish Brendan McCarroll and Scottish Ross Kellett. On the Italian side, very good defenders: Niccolo Quintarelli, seventh in the money list, and Joon Kim, ninth, Alessio Bruschi, Gregory Molteni, Andrea Rota, Alessandro Grammatica, Andrea Signor, Nicolo Ravano and Andrea Zanini.
Sponsors of the event for the second year in a row Internorm Austrian manufacturer of door and window frames, a leading European brands in the industry. Its success is based on innovation, technology and futuristic elegance of institutional design.Partner are the Company for Tourism Val di Non, Trentino Marketing SpA, which are part of the organizing committee along with the Dolomiti Golf Club and the Italian Golf Federation. The Pilsner Urquell Pro Tour, as well as the brand that is part of the group Birra Peroni is sponsored by Major sponsors CartaSi, the official supplier Under Armour, the official partner Webgolf. Media partner: Sky Sports HD; Commercial advisor: RCS Sport.

Joakimides happy in Normandy

Nicolas Joakimides won the 6th Open International de Normandie with -18 total. Thomas Linard and Gareth Shaw shared second place one stroke back.

It was kind of a boring last round until last group teed off the 14th hole. France’s Nicolas Joakimides just holed for birdie on 13th and had a 5 stroke advantage. Then he missed his tee shot and landed in the bush. He deemed his ball unplayable, dropped behind and could only find the fairway with small shot. From there, missed the green, ended in the buker, got out short and holed 12 meters for double bogey.

The crowd applaused and shout louder than for an eagle! He dropped 2 shots in a row on the 15the and 16th. Meanwhile, Thomas Linard and Gareth Shaw came close to the top of the leadrboard. Joakimides playing partner Fabien Marty missed two golden opportunities to come to -18 on 16th and 17th.

On the last hole, Nicolas Joakimides walked to the green to check the leaderboard. He still had one shot advantege after great shot in the middle of the fairway. His wedge shot to the flag was one of the best of the day, 3 meters from the target. Marty missed the green and could not save par.

“The story of the day -Joakimides said- is that even when your are in a bad position and struggling, there is still hope. It was very close, only one shot but beleive me, I am very happy with this win. My target is alway to play on Tour. My game is still improving and I play better and better.”

Gareth Shaw is the new leader of the Alps Tour ranking, Thomas Linard is now second.

From Saint-Saens
By Agathe Séron

Joakimides 3 shots clear

France’s Nicolas Joakimides moved into contention at Open International de Normandie. He signed for a wonderful 64, 7 under par and settled in a 3 strokes advantage. Overnight leader fellow Fabien Marty carded 69 and slept to the podium second place. France’s Thomas Linard and Northern Ireland Gareth Shaw tied third place with -14 total. Spain’s Daniel Osorio fired 10 under par, his best score ever to jump from 33rd place to 5th.
The weather was fair and the sun gently dried the dew in the morning and warmed up the air during third round in Golf de Saint-Saens. Daniel Osorio lived a dream alive as he holed 8 birdies and an eagle.
‘I played pretty much like during the first two rounds but the main difference was my putting. I holed so many putts. It is a great feeling in one hand for this tournament and in the other to feel confident for the coming European Tour qualifying stage. Honestly, tomorrow anything under par would be great’
As the last two players completed their cards in tournament office, Fabien Marty was the most talkative to summer up their rounds.
“The difference between Nicolas and I is that I holed good second puts and he didn’t have any! He holed the first ones ! He was closer to the flags and he took every opportunities on par 5 where he scored 5 under. I only made par on these holes. Even if I shot 2 under today it seems quite light compare to Nicolas 64-minus-7. Hey Nicolas, I lend you the torch but it’s OK to me I prefer to be the hunter! But the bad news is that I am going to play with you again! (laugh) I always play bad when I play with him…”

From Saint-Saens

By Agathe Séron

Half-way lead for Marty

French players took the lead of the Open de Normandie. The half-way podium is 100 per cent blue-white-red. Fabien Marty who teed of in morning session proved that yesterday’s score was not just luck. He fired 65, 6 under par best score of the day to aggregate -13. Overnight co-leader fellow Nicolas Joakimides is 2 strokes back. Parisian Thomas Linard is third by his own despite dropping 2 shots on 17th par 3.
The weather was not fair today. The sun did not show more than 15 minutes in total. Gusts of wind made jokes to players from noon and the temperature did not exceed 15 degrees. Though Fabien Marty seemed to be ‘weatherproof’ and kept the leadership after 36 holes.
‘I hit 18 greens, my long game is very solid. I put well again. I started with four birides on first five holes so it gives you confidence. I enter the round quite quick then I rode the wave. I tried to recover the mood I used to have during my first season as pro. I played shot after shot so I do not think of the scores. Quite common but not always easy to do.’
Ireland Gareth Shaw made the biggest move thank to his 65-6-under-par card. Shaw shares fourth place with France’s Julien Foret. Both of them are serious challengers.

None of the 11 amateurs made the cut fixed at level par.

From Saint-Saens

By Agathe Séron

Joakimides and Marty lead the battle of Normandy

French duo leads after first round of the Open de Normandie. Both fellows Nicolas Joakimides and Fabien Marty (picture) are former Challenge tour players and they tamed the course of Saint-Saens with opening 64-7-under-par card. Norwegian Jason Kelly and England Ricki Neil-Jones are one shot behind signing for 65.
Nicolas Joakimides, 39 year old, is kind of a golf ‘yoda’. Joakimides had great seasons on Challenge in the late 90’s. He won the Challenge tour Grand Final in 1997 and played on main Tour the following year. He almost had the perfect day today and only dropped one shot on the 15th.
The second leader, France’s Fabien Marty had his one and only victory on Alps Tour in Austria in 2006. Marty played on Challenge Tour in 2010. He has been away for circuit the past two years and only enters event on home soil. ‘As I do not play very often, I really enjoyed to be here. Today, my putting was great. I managed to save really good putts when I was in danger and I holed seven birdies. Let’s see what is coming next.’
The day looked alike typical autumn day. The sky was partly cloudy, the wind went stronger in the afternoon drying the greens and the atmosphere was quite fresh. The projected cut is level par.

In Saint-Saens

By Agathe Séron

Open International de Normandie – Day 1

After rain last night, sun is back this morning but chill. Temperature are becoming down this week. The course is in good conditions and first round starts on time.
The defending champion, French Romain Schneider, will start at 8.48am and try to win again. Seven season’s winners take part the event too: Sebastien Gros (Haut Poitou), Xavier Poncelet (Mirabelle d’Or), Jerome Lando-Casanova (Sanroque), Chris Mc Donnell (Slovenia), Brendan Mc Carroll (Sanremo and Gösser), Ross Kellett (Montecchia), Thomas Fournier (Valle d’Aosta Open last week).

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Open de Normandie – Pro Am Day

What a beautiful morning in Saint-Saëns for the Pro Am du Domaine de Forges! 31 teams composed by one professional and three amateurs are taking part of the event.
Tonight, all participants will assist the prize-giving party at Casino de Forges les Eaux…
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