Renato

Paratore

The Italian traded three bogeys with one birdie before making the turn but swallowed a pair of double bogeys shortly after. This will conclude a trip to the States that resulted in a missed cut last week at the Barbasol Championship and today’s WD. He’s now failed to make the cut in 11 of his last 12 worldwide starts, falling outside of the top 500 in the OWGR. The two-time winner on the DP World Tour is still young but is trending in the wrong direction.

Paratore very much had a boom-or-bust type season on the European Tour, missing 13 cuts in total and collecting six top 20 finishes. The best of which came at the Omega European Masters in late August when the Italian finished in a tie for seventh-place. Unable to carry the momentum into his home country’s open, the 24-year-old missed the cut at the Italian Open, which marked the beginning of four such results in a row. Battling back with a T-9 finish at the Open de España, T-25 outing at the Andalucia Masters, and a T-11 result at the Mallorca Golf Open, Paratore appeared primed for a strong finish to his season. Missing the final two cuts of his campaign, the two-time European Tour winner fell short of such aspirations and will hope it was just a small speed bump as he readies for the beginning of the 2022 season this week at the Joburg Open.

The 24-year-old Italian withdrew following a 2-over 73 in the first round at Costa Adeje, but he said his hand feels fine ahead of his title defense at the British Masters. Paratore said the diagnosis was inflammation in his left hand, which required a few days of rest. “It was a little pain from too much practice, but now it’s rested and it’s OK now,” he said Tuesday. The two-time European Tour winner has had a lackluster start to his season, making just two cuts in seven starts with his best results being a T-12 at the Austrian Open last month. Last season, Paratore went 17-for-21 and posted three top 10s including his win, a T-2 at the Mauritius Open and a T-7 at the BMW PGA Championship. This week marks his sixth start in the British Masters (he’s 3-for-5), and he also finished T-8 in 2019.

That’s three swings back from new leader Victor Perez. The young Italian now has three rounds of 65 in his six laps of Royal Greens G&CC. Two came in R1 and R3 last year when he finished tied 18th, his impetus hurt by a 74 on day two. He went nine shots lower than that today after outpacing a lone bogey with six birdies. The first two gains for the World No. 258 came at 4 and 7 before he registered a square at the par-4 9th for the second day running. But he bounced back with birdie-3 at 10 and also ticked 14, 16 and 18 to climb into the top four. The 23-year-old already has a second place this season after finishing runner-up at December’s Malaysian Open while he was also T21 in Abu Dhabi so he’s been in strong form lately. He’ll be chasing a second European Tour win this weekend.

The Italian fleeced the Peter Harradine creation at Abu Dhabi GC on Thursday, but it was more of a struggle on Friday. He opened on the back nine and ticked a birdie-4 at the tenth hole, but then handed two strokes back to the course at the 12th and 15th. There was a similar pattern on the front nine, but with one subtle difference. He again birdied the first hole of the nine, this time the first, but on this occasion he made more progress before the slip. He circled the eighth and then dropped a shot with a missed par putt from just 3’0" at the ninth. Second last time out in the Mauritius Open, he currently ranks fifth on the Race to Dubai. He signed his card whilst T4 on the live leaderboard, just one swing back of Matt Fitzpatrick and Rafa Cabrera Bello in the clubhouse and Francesco Laporta still on the course.

The young Italian lost a playoff at the Mauritius Open last month and he slotted back into a groove again today. A pair of opening birdies set the tone and he added two more at 4 and 6 before his only dropped shot of the day at 7. On Abu Dhabi GC’s back nine, he birdied 10 and then surged into the lead with circles at 15, 16, 17 and 18. It beats his low round here by three and makes light of previous course form (54-MC-MC-MC-57). He said: “Today I hit some long drivers. I didn’t hit so many fairways, but I cut some corners, so some short clubs helped me. The short game was really good, and also, the iron play. I start really good and made some good putts the first holes. So give me good confidence for the rest of the day, and I keep making putts.” If it holds, this would be his third 18-hole lead on the European Tour. The last time he led after day one, Paratore went on to win the 2017 Nordea Masters, his lone E.T. victory to date.

The 22-year-old Italian, who won the 2017 Nordea Masters, looked to be the man today as he roared to the turn in just 31 blows after birdies at 2, 4, 6, 7 and 9. That put him in a four-way tie with nine to play but he took a step back with a three-putt bogey at 10 and let another go at 13. He gathered himself again with a birdie at 14 and a walk-off bogey at 18 proved enough to make a playoff. However, he could only par the par-5 closer this time and had to leave the stage to Hojgaard and Rozner. Despite the disappointment, with a T19 in last week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship and a T2 here, he’s fourth in the early Race to Dubai standings so it’s been a profitable December.

The Italian is still only 22-years-old and yet this season will be his sixth on the European Tour. That said, he’s still looking to finish a year inside the top 50, with a current best of 57th in his Sophomore campaign of 2016. Last year he was 88th with only the one top ten and incredibly he has just the 11 of them in those five and a bit seasons. What he does have is a lot of consistency around the top 30-top 20 mark. He was T19 last week at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, closing with a 69, a good example of what he does.

The big-hitting Italian is safe in his pursuit of job security (95th in the Race to Dubai) so he’s freewheeling during the regular-season finale. He swallowed a bogey to open his day but quickly rebounded with birdies at 2, 3, and 5. Playing his 13th round at Dom Pedro Vicoria GC, this is his fifth round of 67 or better. He opened with twin 66s last year before closing 67-74 to finish in a share of 27th. Paratore will have an afternoon tee time on Friday. The afternoon conditions proved to be tougher on day one so he’ll need to bring his full attention.

There’s been a touch of boom or bust about the Italian’s effort in this event. He missed the cut on debut in 2013 and then again in the last two years. Oddly, the two years he made the cut (and ultimately did well) he played just as poorly in round one (both times outside the top 90), but in 2015 he followed with 67-67-70 for T24 and in 2016 63-67-65 for T7. But that round one record is quite poor, never breaking 70 and only once going lower than 71. He was T20 last week in Sweden, a first top 25 since he was T8 in the British Masters. He closed 67-67-64.