Rory Sabbatini targeting unlikely Ryder Cup debut after fast Italian Open start
Perhaps Rory Sabbatini’s bid to make Europe’s team for next year’s Ryder Cup is not as unlikely as it first sounded. The former bad boy of the American circuit shot a 65 in the first round of the £5.6 million Italian Open to remind everyone of his undoubted quality.
Padraig Harrington has been taking the 43-year-old’s candidature seriously, ever since Sabbatini changed his citizenship from South Africa to Slovakia - the home country of his wife - earlier this year. Ostensibly that was to establish the former world No 8 as eligible for next year’s Olympics, but the biennial dust-up is also in Whistling Straits in 11 months is also on his radar.
“I've got some roots here in Italy and it’s good to be here,” Sabbatini said after five birdies, an eagle and a solitary bogey took him to within one of the pace set by Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen. “I’ve just got to continue what I did today - keep the ball in play, minimise the stress, and see what happens.”
It is fair to say that stress once seemed to follow Sabbatini’s career around. At one PGA Tour event he stormed ahead of Ben Crane, finishing a hole before his playing partner had even reached the green following a disagreement about slow play and, in 2011, was fined for yelling at a volunteer for daring to look at his ball.
The same year, he became embroiled in a profanity-laden argument with fellow pro Sean O’Hair and along the way there were also run-ins with Tiger Woods and Sir Nick Faldo.
However, through all the controversy there was never any questioning his class, as he won six PGA Tour titles, spent more than 20 weeks in the world’s top 10 and won the World Cup for South Africa alongside Trevor Immelman.
Little wonder, therefore, that Harrington, the Europe captain, has put him on the list of players on whom he has asked his statisticians to provide detailed notes. From falling out of the world’s top 550 two years ago, Sabbatini has risen to 78th thanks to five top-10s since April and a victory at the Olgiata Golf Club this weekend would give him a substantial springboard on the way to Wisconsin.
However, it is already a stellar leaderboard with world No 5 Justin Rose on five-under alongside impressive Austrian Bernd Wiesberger, with Matt Fitzpatrick on four-under and Danny Willett, the recent BMW PGA Championship winner, on three-under.
