Two years have passed, from Portugal we moved on to play in Greece and there are two new players in the team: yet the result hasn’t changed. Team Italy wins the continental championship of the PGA of Europe. The Azzurri take home – in a big way – the title offered by the Confederation of Professional Golf (formerly PGA of Europe).
PGA of Europe, results
If a year ago in Portugal it had closed with a total score of 22 strokes under par, leaving Germany by 13, in the wind of the Costa Navarino Resort, Team Italy reaffirmed its superiority going on to win by six strokes.
Again on the Germans, who had now tried to reduce the disadvantage to just three shots (there were nine after two rounds) in the middle of the match. But the response of the Azzurri in the second leg was decisive. As team captain Michele Reale says: “The last day was a complicated one.
the Germans took off like a bomb”. Then a 5 iron printed in the auction at 10 and again the ball in the flag at holes 11 and 13 for three birdies that gave new vigor to the team. For him a total of 218 hits (75-72-71) and the satisfaction for the good game found in the final.
Andrea Rota (216 strokes, 70-71-75) points out that “we made the difference in the first two days with strong winds. We managed well.” The pro from Bergamo was part of the team that finished second in Portugal two editions ago.
And with him on the podium then was Gregory Molteni (219, 72-74-73), then twice in the winning team. Not bad for players who are full-time masters (to enter the championship you must have played no more than four games in any tour in the last two seasons).
Michele Reale teaches in Monticello (Como) but never stops practicing: he won the Italian PGA Masters Championship in 2022 and attempted the road to the European Senior Tour (reaching the final stage where twentieth place was not enough).
Andrea Rota teaches at the Sport Indoor in Mozzo (Bergamo): for him only a few pro-ams and the PGAI championships. Gregory Molteni continues to train “to follow high-level amateurs by showing them playing skills that are always up to par”.
The one that has just concluded is the annual appointment of the Confederation of Professional Golf, which includes 43 national PGAs representing 12,600 professionals. PGA Italiana has been part of it since 1990. In addition to the race we meet for the future of golf.
The Annual Congress was an opportunity for discussion and exchange between national delegates, awaited by a rich menu of meetings and workshops aimed at sharing ideas, progress, new ways to improve their organization and golf in general.
It was attended by the president of PGA Italiana, Filippo Barbè. “Great participation and many topics on the table – he said -. The new ways of communicating and using the game are interesting and indispensable for involving a younger audience, from multimedia driving ranges to apps with captivating programs for kids.
Going down this path also means having people within the national PGAs who have skills more suitable for these methods”.
