After more than three weeks of hiatus, the DP World Tour restarts in the Czech Republic with the D+D Real Czech Masters, which will be held at the PGA National OAKS Prague from August 15 to 18. Seven Italian players will participate: Francesco Molinari, Edoardo Molinari, Lorenzo Scalise, Francesco Laporta, Renato Paratore, Filippo Celli and Andrea Pavan, the latter of whom has a special affection for the country, having won the tournament in 2018 and the D+D Real Czech Challenge in 2023 on the Challenge Tour.
DP World Tour Schedule
The only winner on this tour, 27-year-old Englishman Todd Clements from Colchester, has had a poor season so far and therefore has little chance of repeating his success, while four players who have performed well in the past but have an uncertain future are attracting attention.
Two major champions, British player Danny Willett (2016 Masters), eight-time DP World Tour winner, and American player Jason Dufner (2013 PGA Championship), five-time PGA Tour winner. Together with them are another American, Brandt Snedeker (9 titles and one FedEx Cup in 2012), and Rory Sabatini (6 PGA Tour titles and 2003 World Cup winner), who was born in Durban, South Africa, of Italian, Scottish and Irish descent.
The naturalized Slovakian, who went on to win silver at the Tokyo Olympics, has six season champions in the field, including Dutchman Darius Van Driel, Swede Jesper Svensson (ninth in the Dubai race), Spaniards Adrian Otaegui and Nacho Elvira, American Jordan Gumberg and Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson, all of whom could repeat as champions.
Other players who could liven up the atmosphere include Finn Sami Valimaki, German Yannick Paul, Northern Irishman Tom McKibbin, Frenchman Romain Langasquez, Britons Dale Whitnell and Daniel Brown, South Africans Robin Williams and Thomas Aiken, Japanese Ryo Hisajime and China's Wu Ashun.
Another Grand Slam champion, Francesco Molinari, returns to the tour after playing at the Scottish Open and the British Open (2018). He finished fifth at the Dubai Invitational in January. Edoardo Molinari and Lorenzo Scalise have had unsuccessful recent campaigns (both missed three cuts), Francesco Laporta has slowed down after more than half of the season, while Renato Paratore has won just once in his last 12 tournaments.
Filippo Celli had a good run, finishing 10th in the KLM Open and Italian Open, and 9th in the BMW International Open, while Andrea Pavan finished 4th in the KLM Open and 5th in the Cervia National Open. The total prize money is $2,500,000, with a first prize of $425,000.
The tournament, which began in 2014, is now in its tenth edition. In addition to Clements and Pavan, the third champion, Maximilian Kieffer of Germany (2022), and runner-up Adri Arnaus of Spain (2019) will also participate. Previously, the Czech Open was held between 1990 and 2011, with several interruptions during this period.
From the third edition in 1994 to the tenth and final edition in 2011 (which was then cancelled due to lack of funds), it was part of the DP World Tour schedule, with the exception of the Tour of the Alps in 2008, when it was called the European Tour and was the first event held in an Eastern country after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Even before that, from 1935 to 1938, the Czechoslovak Open was held, twice won by the great English champion Henry Cotton, who also won the Italian Open during this period (GC Sestriere, 1936).
