Six Irish players are in Alps Tour action as the satellite tour heads to Italy for the Memorial Giorgio Bordoni at GC La Pinetina.
It has been a promising season thus far from an Irish point of view with four players ranked inside the top-25 on the Order of Merit. Conor Purcell who is absent this week following his encouraging showing on the Challenge Tour last week leads the charge in sixth place while Gary Hurley (11th), David Carey (21st) and Jonathan Yates (25th) are looking to maintain their promotion push to the second-tier.
Paul McBride, Simon Bryan and Michael Young are also in action this week as they look to pick up a run of form.
All is well in the life of Gary Hurley at the moment. Riding high in 11th on the Order of Merit and has recently been appointed as club ambassador for Saadiyat Beach Golf Club.
The former Walker Cup star has been a model of consistency this season, registering a pair of top-15 finishes, a top-10 and a top-3 in an impressive few months.
The Waterford native tees off just after 1pm alongside French amateur Julien Sale and home favourite Luca Cianchetti.
Naas professional Yates will lead the Irish charge at 8.47 am local time on Wednesday alongside French duo Franck Medale and Tom Vaillant who has impressed despite being an amateur.
Yates was fifth last time out at the Gosser Open after closing with a 67 and has made all his cuts so far this season. He also finished tenth in March at the New Giza Open.
Darwin Escapes golfer David Carey narrowly missed out on promotion last season but looks set to threaten again this year.
Carey has been a feature at the top of leaderboards in recent weeks with a share of fourth and a third place finish in his last two starts.
The Irishman will play his opening round with local favourite Gregorio De Leo and Dutchman Lars Keunan.
Simon Bryan will get his week underway with Italian duo Alessandro Notaro and Carlo Casalegno while Paul McBride is grouped with Spaniard Victor Jimenez Bravo and Frenchman Matthieu Caron.
Michael Young gets a rare start alongside Austrian Daniel Hebenstreit and France’s Romain Vallaeys.
Rhys Clarke is the seventh reserve for this week.
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