The headline isn’t entirely true; I walked some of Marco Simone‘s 18 holes today before I had to retreat to the cooler climes of the media centre. Having touched down late last night, the plan was to refresh my memory of the entire layout but it wasn’t to be.
The 30-degree heat which is set to remain for the entire week made it an extremely taxing walk and even had some of the players sweating profusely after only a handful of holes. I played Marco Simone in June last year when it was even warmer and experienced the severe undulations, so I could feel their pain. It’s a beast of a golf course.
It’s likely to be a war of attrition when battle resumes in Rome on Friday morning, which got me thinking. Surely, even as fit as most of these 24 guys are, there is no way anyone will play all five matches this year? You’ve got to consider the caddies, too, who have the unenviable task of hauling around an extra 20 kilograms on their backs. They’ll be pleading for those stand bags to lighten the load.
That’s without accounting for the mental fatigue that comes with competing under the utmost pressure with the eyes of the world watching.
It gives captains Luke Donald and Zach Johnson and their vice-captains an extra potential headache because, as is always the case in this biennial showdown, some players will find form and strike up formidable partnerships and some will struggle.
The temptation will then be to lean on those with momentum all the way through to the Sunday singles. However, to do so will almost certainly put players at risk of burning out. We’ve seen it before in this event in cooler locations than this.
Tommy Fleetwood was a golfer possessed on Friday and Saturday in Paris before flatlining against Tony Finau in the singles and shaking hands on the 14th green. The same happened to Jon Rahm at Whistling Straits when he ran out of gas against Scottie Scheffler. There are countless examples.
Players have already been feeling the heat at Marco Simone this week
(Image credit: Getty Images)
There have also been occasions when gone 5-0 but seldom in conditions like this on a course so physically demanding.
Given how evenly matched the two sides are, I’d be…
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