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The unstoppable milanais! This is how the French television commentator defines it, in a crescendo of enthusiasm, in the final stages of the World Team Championship (Paris 2022), where Pietro Bovari lines up some decisive plays for the victory of the Italian team (with Filippo Celli and Marco Florioli), an absolute first for our golf.
His playing partner, the new Swedish legend Ludvig Aberg, who went from college to the Ryder Cup in just a few months, must have thought so too. Which Pietro stuns with a one-two. On the green of the 14th he hits the hole with an endless putt from thirty meters.
Then at the 18th the race is still open, but the Italian's shot to the green is a masterpiece. The short flag near the water advises caution, it is better to play long, a 9 iron would be needed and instead he chooses the pitch: the ball is printed before the auction.
It won't be a birdie, but the par (against Aberg's bogey) will close the championship with team Italy one stroke ahead of Sweden.
Pietro Bovari, statements
Rewinding the tape, Pietro grows up on bread and golf. Plastic sticks at one and a half, real ones at three.
His father Antonello is a professional and teaches at the Golf Ambrosiano in Milan, where Pietro builds his game. We don't have to wait long because at twelve years old he is already Italian Baby champion. Before coming of age he confirmed himself with two more national titles and the international ones in Croatia.
Then he chooses college in the United States, studies at Virginia University and plays one hundred rounds for the Cavaliers in three years, with an average score of 71.87 and eleven top ten finishes, helping to bring the team to the NCAA Finals for the first time .
Meanwhile (2021) he wins the Memorial Barras in Crans (Switzerland), a tournament with amateurs and professionals, where he also does better than the latter. He thus earns the invitation to the Omega European Masters, passes the cut and scores a hole-in-one ("an 8-iron from 174 meters").
In 2022 he placed seventh at the individual European Championships (leader after two laps), was part of the continental team at the St. Andrews Trophy and of the Italian team (for the sixth time) at the European Championships.
2023 is the year of graduating in economics and returning home to plan the future as a professional. He has just returned from the second World Championship in Abu Dhabi, with a fifth place as a team and individual: the number 77 in the world puts number one Christo Lamprecht behind him (leading the last Open Championship after one round) and finishes equal with number two Gordon Sargent (invited to the 2023 Masters and first college player to go directly on the tour.
“In September I participated in stage one of the qualifications to access the major tour and I moved on to the next step, next week in Spain; the important thing is to be able to have a stable game category, but other options are the Alps Tour and the Asian one, which remains to be seen." “The rating is 11 out of 10.
I had fun, I improved in social and human relationships; an environment where I had no parachutes, no friends at the beginning, I had to wake up and now I speak English like Italian. For golf it is the perfect situation with unbeatable practice facilities thanks to the money and space that American colleges have; very beautiful courses are played with a great variety of situations and then there is a lot of talent in the field: a normal match there has a level equal to a European championship, and so every week.
With the dad-coach at home I had a direct line at any time." “Irons to the green have always been my strong point, but in the United States I improved a lot around the green: there you face many different grasses and very fast greens that require a more sophisticated approach technique.
The constant search is for discipline, fundamental in golf, which also means having patience on the course. I have to try to add a bit of recklessness, be more aggressive, not just do the sometimes too precise homework. The last shot in Paris was perfect, all instinct and adrenaline, zero strategy." “There isn't much time left, I train five and a half days out of seven.
Simple things with friends on a Friday night, a pizza and a game of pool. The girlfriend is in America, her name is Victoria and we have been together for four years, all of college together and even graduation: she now works in New York but will soon come to Italy."