Ryder Cup in the Eternal City: will it be a gamechanger for golf in Italy? | Sean Ingle

aIn the middle of a brutally chaotic Roman rush hour, the taxi driver makes a ranking of the sports that are more popular in Italy than golf. It’s a long journey. And that’s a good thing, because he has a long list. ‘Football, tennis, formula uno, Moto GP,’ he begins, before the language barrier intervenes and we veer sharply towards mime. Finally, after performing the actions for swimming and – possibly – volleyball, he concludes: “E il golf!”

Welcome to Ryder Cup week in the Eternal City, and a new battle for hearts and minds. More than 150,000 fans are expected at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, 10 miles east of Rome, over the next three days for the biennial match between Europe and the US. It is expected that it will once again be a great sporting and financial success. Yet one big question remains: will it also be a game changer for golf in Italy?

A delightful conversation with Franco Chimenti, the president of the Federazione Italiana Golf, would convert even the most persistent doubter. “This is the biggest sporting event on Italian soil since the 1960 Olympics and the 1990 World Cup,” the 84-year-old tells the Guardian from a chic management box along the first hole. “It will be a historic moment. And I truly believe that such a major planetary event can turn the page for golf in Italy.”

The Marco Simone certainly looks good. The course, owned by fashion brand House of Biagiotti, recently underwent a $15 million (£12.4 million) renovation. There are amphitheater-like viewpoints and huge grandstands scattered throughout the course. And on a clear day, St. Peter’s Basilica can even be seen.

It makes for great TV – the event is broadcast live on state broadcaster Rai – as well as Instagram images that don’t need a filter. But walking around Rome, you don’t really get the feeling that the Ryder Cup is on the city’s doorstep, apart from the occasional poster here and there.

A similar lack of awareness was also seen on Wednesday in Italy’s most popular sports newspaper, Gazzetta dello Sport. The Ryder Cup package was unsurprisingly buried under multiple stories about Napoli, Juventus, Inter – but also 40-year-old Chinese boxer Zhiel Zhang, Formula 1, Moto GP, Andrei Shevchenko becoming an independent advisor to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a quiz show, the Rugby and Volleyball World Cup.

“Ryder Cup, Owner’s Manual: The Secrets of the Golf Tournament That’s as Good as the Olympics,” read the headline on the main golf piece – before offering up a well-thought-out Ryder Cup FAQ intended as “a little guide to pretending be a pundit in front of the television and amaze friends and family, even if you’ve never picked up a golf club.”

And that will probably include many Italians who will watch golf for the first time this weekend at the Marco Simone. Fans from 87 different countries have purchased tickets, with the three largest distributions in terms of nationality being the UK, US and then Italy. And don’t just expect to get up and get in. The event is sold out with day tickets for hundreds of euros on the secondary market.

That’s an impressive achievement considering golf has never been a significant sport in Italy – with Francesco Molinari’s 2018 Open win being the only major victory for an Italian golfer.

Among those covering sports in Italy, however, optimism is tinged with understandable caution. “In Italian we have a saying: ‘Se non ora, quando?’ If not now, when?” says Italian sports journalist Erika Primavera when asked whether the Ryder Cup will be a game changer.

“There will be a lot of people here. The weather and food will be great. Then there is Rome. The aim is clearly to put golf on the map, and the federation has gone to great lengths to encourage people to play. But I don’t know if it is enough, because the sport is too expensive for us.”

Another journalist, Simone di Stefano of LaPresse, agrees. “We’re usually good at sports where you don’t need much to get started, like football and swimming,” he says. “All you need is a ball or a swimming pool. But in golf, just like in tennis, you have to buy equipment and you need lessons to get good.”

However, the Italian Golf Federation is determined that these barriers to entry will disappear. As part of its push to host the event, it pledged to build on the 94,046 registered golfers – including 20,000 women – who play on 368 courses across the country.

And as Chimenti looks out over his field of dreams, it is clear that he believes in the motto: if you build it, they will come.

“I’ve been to a lot of Ryder Cups on European soil and in the United States, so I know what to expect,” he says. “But I am sure this event will be spectacular. It will stick in people’s minds, and in the minds of all the players.” And, he hopes, all of Italy too.