Marco Simone - Made For The Ryder Cup

MARCO SIMONE Golf & Country Club is a familiar layout to most of the European team as the host course for the Italian Open.

Located on the outskirts of Rome, it has been redesigned a couple of times and is now a masterpiece loved by players and spectators alike.

It is a course that features several risk and reward holes and has several water hazards. European captain Luke Donald believes he has set it up to favour his team - the fairways will be narrow and the rough will be punishing. It means that wayward driving is a non-starter.

Spectators will have unrivalled vantage points of the on-course action as well as distant views of the famous Eternal City, including spectacular views of St Peter’s Basilica and of the Castle of Marco Simone. 

The most recent redesign, led by European Golf Design in cooperation with Tom Fazio II, began in August 2018, with the back nine completed and reopened in October 2020 followed by the full 18 holes at the start of March. 

In the meanwhile, Marco Simone Golf & Country Club hosted three Italian Opens in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

This has been no overnight process. 

The Ryder Cup was originally awarded to Italy on December 14, 2015, after a campaign that received the backing of the Italian government.

Laura Biagiotti, whose late husband was the brainchild behind the course, said: “I am proud and delighted - together with my daughter Lavinia - to have brought the Ryder Cup to Italy for the first time, being the third sporting event in the world and watched by over two billion viewers. This extraordinary opportunity has come about thanks to the immense commitment and vision of the President of the Italian Golf Federation Franco Chimenti and CONI President Giovanni Malagò."

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