Ryder Cup hopefuls staking their claim

The final leaderboard at last week’s Italian Open made for interesting reading. Home favourite Francesco Molinari was attempting back-to-back victories after his previous week’s triumph at Wentworth but had to settle for second place, one behind Thorbjørn Olesen who captured his fifth European Tour title in the process. Both golfers will have their eyes firmly set on a place in Europe’s Ryder Cup team come September as well as several top-10 finishers from the Italian Open such as Cabrera-Bello, Sullivan, Poulter and Willett.

Someone else looking to compete in Paris is young American Bryson DeChambeau who conjured up a timely victory at the Memorial Tournament. There were several stories at the beginning of the week including Justin Rose’s opportunity to rise to the top of the world rankings with a win (he finished T6) and Tiger Woods’ latest event of his eye-catching comeback (he led the field in several tee-to-green categories but faced putting woes throughout the week to end up six shots back), but DeChambeau stole the headlines with his playoff win to secure PGA title number two.