Guido

Migliozzi

The Italian looked closer to joining the PGA TOUR than Challenge Tour to start the 2022 campaign but now he finds himself just 135th in the DP World Tour season-long standings. He twirled three runner-up finishes last season but has landed just one top 10 this year. On a positive note, he’s recorded a T18 and T38 in his last two starts, posting sub-69 rounds in five of his last seven rounds. The 25-year-old may be finding his game just in time as he turns his attention toward Himmerland Golf Resort, a venue where he cashed a runner-up finish last year.

Missing the cut in 5-of-6 starts this year, Migliozzi’s lone weekend appearance came in the form of a T-67 finish at the Ras al Khaimah Championship in early February. Extremely poor throughout the bag with the exception of off-the-tee, the 25-year-old who once reached the top-70 in the official world golf ranking has dropped all the way down to world No. 122. Despite this, the two-time winner on the European Tour is securely in the field for The Masters next week courtesy of his tie for fourth-place at Torrey Pines last June.

In 2019 at Karen CC, Migliozzi was tied with Germany’s Adri Arnaus heading into the final found, and he pulled ahead on the back nine after birdies at 10 and 12. He parred in to shoot 2-under 69 and won by one over Arnaus and South Africa’s Louis de Jager and Justin Harding, who won the 2021 Kenya Open. Migliozzi finished T-12 last year in Kenya. Later in 2019, Migliozzi added his second win, at the Belgian Knockout. Since then, he’s added seven top 10s over his last three season, including three runner-up results last season at the Made in HimmerLand, British Masters and Qatar Masters. Migliozzi, who ended 2021 at 88th in the world rankings, has dropped to No. 107 after a rough start to 2022, making just one cut in four starts with a best finish of T-67 at the Ras al Khaimah Championship in February.

The 24-year-old Italian fired rounds of 74-69 at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid to miss the weekend and will look to bounce back this week at the Andalucia Masters. Migliozzi was T-6 last year at Real Club Valderrama, where he finished at 5-over 289 and three shots behind 2020 winner John Catlin, and he missed the cut there in 2019. However, he’s listed at +4000 via PointsBet Sportsbook to start the week, with world No. Jon Rahm leading the market at +300 followed by England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick (+1200) and Austria’s Ryder Cupper Bernd Wiesberger (+1800). On the season, he’s made 13 cuts in 19 starts with three runner-up results (Qatar Masters, British Masters, Made in HimmerLand) and a T-4 at the U.S. Open. After a T-32 at the Tokyo Olympics, he finished T-7 at the Omega European Masters. Migliozzi, who currently stands 11th in the Race to Dubai, ranks fifth on the European Tour in scoring average (69.44) and 18th in Strokes Gained: Total (+1.11).

Last week at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, the 24-year-old Italian finished T-17 after shooting rounds of 71-68 over the weekend on the Old Course at St. Andrews. Migliozzi will make his third start in the Spanish Open, where he has yet to make a cut. However, he’s listed at +3000 to win this week via PointsBet Sportbook, behind clear favorite and world No. 1 Jon Rahm (+210) and Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger (+1600). On the season, he’s made 13 cuts in 18 starts with three runner-up results (Qatar Masters, British Masters, Made in HimmerLand) and finished T-4 at the U.S. Open. After a T-32 at the Tokyo Olympics, he finished T-7 at the Omega European Masters. Migliozzi, who currently stands 11th in the Race to Dubai, ranks third on the ET in scoring average (69.37), 14th in Strokes Gained: Total (1.23) and 10th in greens under regulation (1.05).

The 24-year-old Migliozzi undoubtedly will be aiming for a win at home in this week’s Italian Open, and he’s still got an outside chance of making the Ryder Cup through automatic qualifying with a big result either this week or next at the BMW PGA Championship. He has three runner-up results on the European Tour this season and finished T-4 at the U.S. Open. After a T-32 at the Tokyo Olympics, he returned to action last week and posted a final-round, 5-under 65 to vault into a tie for seventh at 9-under 271, four strokes behind winner Rasmus Hojgaard. Migliozzi is fourth on the ET in stroke average (69.12), 12th in Strokes Gained: Total (1.39) and 19th in SG: Tee to Green (1.08). On the season, he’s made 11 cuts in 15 ET starts and also made the cut in his other PGA Tour event, finishing T-13 at the Travelers Championship in June. In four previous appearances at the Italian Open, held this year at the site of the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome, he’s made the cut twice and finished T-22 in 2020.

The Italian settled for three birdies and three bogeys on day one but his irons caught fire today. He pelted 15 greens in regulation after splitting just 7-of-14 fairways. That was good for +4.177 stokes gained on approach, with all six of his birdies converted from inside of 12 feet. Today’s round is more in line with what Migliozzi fans likely expected this week as he ranks 14th on the European Tour in GIR Percentage and he’s gained 8.2 strokes on approach in eight measured rounds on the PGA TOUR. The 24-year-old climbed 30 spots on the live leaderboard today and he’s now just five shots off the pace set by Xander Schauffele.

The 24-year-old Italian, who made his PGA Tour debut at Torrey Pines, carded a 3-under 68 in his final round at the U.S. Open to jump 17 spots up the leaderboard and into the top five. He’ll stay stateside and make his second Tour start in this week’s Travelers Championship. Migliozzi, already a two-time European Tour winner (2019 Belgian Knockout, 2019 Magical Kenya Open), has made nine cuts in 12 starts this season and notched three runner-up finishes in 2021. At the Betfred British Masters, he carded a bogey-free final round at The Belfry to earn himself a spot in a playoff with eventual winner Richard Bland, but he lost on the first extra hole with a bogey. In his next start at the Made in HimmerLand, Migliozzi finished solo second again thanks to a bogey-free 8-under 63 in the final round. He also recorded a T-2 finish at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in March.

The Italian, who arrived off consecutive runner-up finishes on the European Tour, earns an invite to the 2022 Masters and is exempt into the 2022 U.S. Open as well with his top-4 finish. In all, he’s recorded three runners-up in his last eight events on the Euro Circuit, and now kicks off in the States with a top 5. For the week, the 24-year-old carded rounds of 71-70-73-68, totaled 12 birdies versus 10 bogeys, and registered 1.67 SG: Off-the-Tee, 4.69 SG: Approach, 4.94 SG: Around, and -0.19 SG: Putting. He is also eligible for a top-10 exemption into this coming week’s Travelers if he chooses to accept it. Migliozzi gained 2.54 strokes around-the-green in R4 and 2.20 on-the-green with 26 total putts, T1 for the day in the latter. UPDATE: He has accepted the top-10 exemption into the Travelers.

The Italian is a two-time winner on the European Tour in 61 events, both in 2019. He’s in the field from the three-event European Qualifying Series, finishing P2 at the Betfred British Masters, and following-up with a solo 2nd at the Made in Himmerland three weeks ago. The 24-year-old, who also recorded a T2 at the Qatar Masters back in March, has totaled five birdies versus four bogeys and posted 0.39 SG: Off-the-Tee, 5.65 SG: Approach, 2.87 SG: Around, and -2.38 SG: Putting. On Friday, he offset two bogeys with three birdies on five (of 14) fairways and 13 greens in regulation, gaining 3.11 on approach but losing 1.84 SGP. Migliozzi, who will play out of the sixth-to-last twosome in R3 with Patrick Rodgers, is No. 1 in SG: APP at the midpoint though 66th (of 71) in SGP.