Alex Esmatges leads after the 1st round at the Roma Alps Open.

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Rome, July 21^st 2022- Spain’s Alex Esmatges leads with a 9 under-par 63 at the conclusion of Round 1. In a tie for 2^ndplace at 8 under-par just one stroke back of the lead, an Italian duo: Julien Paltrinieri (am) and current Order of Merit Leader Gregorio De Leo. France’s Alexandre Liu, French amateur Tom Vaillant, Italy’s Cristiano Terragni, Swiss Arthur Ameil-Planchin, Swiss Daniel Gurtner and Italy’s Edoardo Giletta are in a 6-way tie for 4^th place at 6 under-par.

Players have to face scorching summer temperatures this week at the 2022 Roma Alps Open, which is being played at Golf Club Parco de’ Medici in Rome, Italy. With such a hot and unusual summer, the players are able to compete on a golf course in good conditions. Play began at 7:30 this morning from both the 1^st and 10^th hole. During today’s first round, the temperature reached as high as 39°celsius, however they are expected to rise even more over the next few days.

Round 1 Player Quotes-

Spain’s Alex Esmatges 28 years old, sits alone atop the leaderboard after the first round of the 2022 Roma Alps Open.  This is his 5^th Alps Tour event of the season as he has mainly played on the Challenge Tour this season. He started his round off well with a birdie and an eagle in his first three holes. In the following 15 holes, he continued with 7 birdies to conclude his 9 under-par, 63. At the conclusion of his round, Alex commented: “My game was very sharp today. I was in control of every shot, especially trying to place the ball in the correct areas. I also putted very well today.” He also mentioned on how the golf course allows to have a lot of birdie opportunities, “this golf course is very nice, there is a lot of birdie chances if you hit fairways and greens. The greens aren’t super-fast but are rolling really really well.” His goal is to “approach tomorrow with a similar strategy, hit fairways and greens to leave myself the best putts possible for birdie.”

Italian amateur Julien Paltrinieri is in a two-way tie for 2^nd place at 8 under-par with current Order of Merit Leader Gregorio De Leo. This week is Julien’s first Alps Tour event of the season, however he has previously played in other events. He shot a bogey-free round with 3 birdies on the front nine and 6 birdies on the back nine. When he concluded his bogey-free round, Julien commented on how his “long game, especially my irons into the green were very solid giving me plenty of chances to make a birdies.” He also explained how the “hot temperature definitely makes the round a bit tougher and tiring physically. However, by drinking a lot of water and wearing a bucket hat it didn’t affect my game too much luckily.” Julien went on to explain that there “were a few tough pins today and the fairways were very firm.”

Current Order of Merit Leader and a two-time winner this season, Italy’s Gregorio De Leo is the second player in the two-way tie for 2^nd place with a bogey-free 8 under-par 64. After his amazing bogey-free round, he explained how the round went: “Today I played well but it was a tough and long day due to the heat we had to face. I putted really well, my putting has definitely helped me a lot over the last few tournaments. When I missed the greens, I managed to make some important recoveries so I’m happy.” When asked about his plans after this week, Gregorio stated, “I will take a few days off but I would like to play some Challenge Tour events before the final 2 events of the Alps Tour season. Nothing is decided as I currently don’t have any invites but it would be good to gain some experience on the Challenge Tour.”

Swiss Arthur Ameil-Planchin is one the players that is in a tie for 4^th place at 6 under-par and only a few shots from the 1^st round lead. He took a week off last week, which he believes helped him recharge the batteries, spend time with family and friends to come back refreshed and with a solid performance here at the 2022 Roma Alps Open. Arthur summarized his round, “I didn’t drive the ball really well today but I was in a good mood so I enjoyed the round. My putting was very well solid today. I gained some confidence back so it was really helpful specially to see it under pressure. Tomorrow, I want to stay in the same mood, enjoy the round and the score should follow.”

Daniel Gurtner from Swiss is also one of the players in a tie for 4^th place. He shot a bogey-free 6 under-par 66 round to begin his tournament. Daniel happily commented after the round:“my game feels solid, last week was a great confidence builder finishing T6th in La Gomera with -13. Today I hit my approach shots good, and I didn’t struggle to make any pars. I stayed patient after starting with 8 consecutive pars. Then on my second nine I was able to convert 5 birdies in the last 6 holes.”

Tied for 4^th place alongside Arthur Ameil-Planchin and Daniel Gurtner at 6 under-par and 3 shots back of the lead, you can find: France’s Alexandre Liu, French amateur Tom Vaillant, Italy’s Cristiano Terragni and Italy’s Edoardo Giletta

Among the 130 players competing this week you can find 104 professionals and 26 amateurs from 18 different nationalities. They are competing for an overall prize fund of €40.000 and 45,000 Order of Merit points.

Round 2-

The second round of the 2022 Roma Alps Open, will begin again at 7:30 am from the 1^st and 10^th hole. After round 2, a cut will be made to the top 40 players and ties.

Tournament Promoter-

Like the majority of the Alps Tour events played in Italy, this event is organized by the Italian Pro Tour, which is a branch of the Italian Golf Federation. They promote the majority of the professional golf events that are played in Italy. The main sponsors that support the Italian Pro Tour include DS Automobiles, Fideuram, Kappa, Rinascente, Eureco and Poste Assicura. In addition, their media partners are the following three Italian newspapers: Corriere dello Sport,Tuttosport and Il Giornale. The Italian Pro Tour featured social partner is Sport Senza Frontiere Onlus and with an official advisor, Infront.

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