2025 Soudal Open key headlines as Francesco Molinari excited by cool Euro Swing
The 2018 Open champion is back on European soil after a sojourn in the States and hopes it will help his form improve
The Italian star has returned to his continent to make a debut appearance at this week's Soudal Open.
Molinari, the 2018 Open champion and Ryder Cup hero, has been mainly based in the United States on the PGA Tour so far this term, but is now in Belgium to join the DP World Tour's European Swing having also been a playing captain at the Team Cup in Abu Dhabi in January.
Big golf events such as the upcoming KLM Open and Italian Open also help make up the European Swing which runs through to the BMW International Open in July. Belgium starts on Thursday and Molinari said: 'I'm really looking forward to it. It's an event that I've been watching on TV, growing the last few years. It's always nice to play national events, national opens. I'm sure that the crowds will be great.
'I think they're the core of the DP World Tour. For guys like me, like Nicolas Colsaerts, coming from smaller golfing nations, our national opens are the fifth Major growing up for sure. So I know how much Belgians care about this week. I think it's one of the things that makes this tour special and starting now, especially in the summer. There's going to be a lot of very cool European events. Hopefully I can be part of a few of them at least.'
Brother Edoardo qualified for next month US Open having come through Monday's qualifiers and, although Francesco missed out on Oakmont by failing to get through, the 42-year-old is hopeful hard work on his game pay off having seen encouraging signs at Walton Heath. He said: 'I didn't have a good day on the greens, but I saw some pretty good stuff. I'm sort of happy where it is at the minute. Obviously, you'd like to see some results to get some confidence.
'But I can't complain really where it is. I think it's just a matter of keeping at it. I've had some good rounds this year. I've been struggling a bit to get four good rounds together, so hopefully that will happen this week.'
Molinari will play alongside recent first-time DP World Tour winners Martin Couvra and Eugenio Chacarra on the opening two days of the Soudal, where home favourite Nicolas Colsaerts will also star. The three-time DP World Tour winner, a member of the European team that produced the Miracle at Medinah, is proud to once again be playing under the Belgian flag in a home event.
He said: 'This is where we all grew up. It has a special taste when you come and play a tournament back home, see faces that you sometimes have not seen for 10, 15, 20 years. I think the tournament organisers have been doing an incredible job since they took over the tournament and I've never really had the chance to shine in Belgium, so I'm extremely grateful to have the chance to walk the fairways in front of people that have been following my career for the last 25 years.'
Colsaerts is now based in UAE, but added: 'I'm extremely grateful for that and living abroad, living in a different country, there's a lot of things that I miss about home. I'm really happy to be back. It's always a pleasure to come back and I'm extremely proud of where we've been able to put Belgium on the golfing map the last 25 years.'
Tournament
Soudal Open
Venue
Rinkven International GC, Antwerp, Belgium
2024 Champion
Nacho Elvira
Prize Fund
$2,750,000
Race to Dubai Points
3500
Ryder Cup Points
1000
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