The Legends Tour returns to San Domenico Golf with the Italian Senior Open, a tournament for top players over 50 scheduled from 27 to 29 October in the Apulian club of Savelletri (Brindisi), where in 2021 the South African James Kingston won his first title of the circuit.
It will be the penultimate European event of the 2023 Legends Tour (the Farmfoods European Masters in Spain will follow from 3 to 5 November) before three consecutive races in Africa which will be the prelude to the MCB Tour Championship, the final act of the season which will be staged at Mauritius at Constance Bella Mare Plage.
Legends Tour, schedule
After the Ryder Cup, waiting for the show of the legends of golf over 50 – The Italian Senior Open – which will be played a few weeks after the Ryder Cup (for the first time in history in Italy) – as well as being one of the competitions of the Italian Pro Tour 2023 (the circuit of national and international competitions organized by the FIG in synergy with the advisor Infront), will also be one of the “Alliance Series” events of the Legends Tour.
The game format will see professionals take the field both for a individual tournament or a team tournament with amateur golfers. The aim is to give amateur players the opportunity to experience competing at the highest level, with the adrenaline and pressure of results, on some of the best courses in the world alongside champions such as former Ryder Cup captains and Major winners including Paul McGinley, Paul Lawrie, Michael Campbell, Ian Woosnam and Thomas Bjorn, all of whom also featured on last year’s Legends Tour.
Ricardo Gonzalez (who also has three victories on the European Tour) will defend the title at San Domenico Golf. The Argentine won at the Argentario Golf Club in the 2022 Italian Senior Open with a three-stroke lead over defending champion Kingston.
The South African (in his palmares also two successes on the European Tour) at the end of the season prevailed over everyone, winning the Order of Merit of the Legends Tour and raising the John Jacobs Trophy to the sky thanks to an impressive roadmap with the affirmation in the Swiss Senior Masters and nine other Top 10.
The venue for the competition: San Domenico Golf – which extends where the Apulian countryside meets the blue sea, perfectly nestled between the slopes of the Itria valley and the tourist port of Savelletri – is a prestigious club which has already welcomed numerous international events such as the Grand Final of the Challenge Tour, hosted on eight occasions between 2005 and 2012.
Characterized by a combination of strategically placed bunkers and an intricate mistral-oriented design, the links course designed by European Golf Design of London winds across gentle slopes, among centuries-old olive trees and glimpses of the ancient city of Egnathia.
Next season promises to be the biggest since the Legends Tour rebranding, with bigger fields and record-breaking prize pools, as well as new venues ready to host major events such as Ireland’s Seapoint Golf Links and the Trump International Golf Links Aberdeen.
There will be at least 18 tournaments with a confirmed minimum cumulative prize pool of over €16 million, a significant increase compared to 2022.
