Martin Couvra leads the Italian Open heading into Sunday's final round but might the youngster prove vulnerable out in front? Ben Coley has the preview.
Golf betting tips: Italian Open
2pts Angel Ayora to win the Italian Open at 15/2 (General)
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Martin Couvra takes a narrow lead into the final round of the Italian Open, where he'll seek to become the first dual winner of the DP World Tour season and with that move closer to securing PGA Tour membership for next year.
It's been quite the rise for the Frenchman, who graduated through the Challenge Tour at the end of his first full campaign but hadn't added to a win the previous season, yet has quickly looked comfortable at this level despite only turning 22 in January.
Couvra won the Turkish Airlines Open with a storming final round and could well double up, which would be enormously frustrating – on both occasions he was mentioned positively followed by the dreaded 'but' as he attracted market support when betting opened.
But while I'd selfishly rather see him beaten, I do think this new dynamic of leading makes him appear short enough at around 2/1. Couvra has the look of a hyper-aggressive player and it makes sense that his breakthrough came as the leaders stalled. Now he's the one out in front, he might just find it tricky to strike the right balance.
Last time he was powering into contention when the wheels came off for a while in round three and a poor third round had threaten to cost him in Turkey, too. Dropping four shots over the closing few holes just last Thursday again shows what can happen with a young, brazen player like him if one mistake leads to another and around a firming course, this will be a real test of his mettle.
Of course, he's young and learning all the time and his future does look extraordinarily bright, but I wonder if one of ANGEL AYORA or Andreas Halvorsen might do to him what he did to Haotong Li in Turkey and pick his pocket, with the Spaniard just preferred.
We've seen countless times on the DP World Tour that final groups can stall in a heartbeat and with one of them a longstanding maiden and another leading for the first time at this level, it wouldn't take a great deal for the same thing to happen here.
And if it does, Ayora could draw further parallels with Couvra by following a disappointing third round with a freewheeling final one, having looked the man to beat when cruising to 12-under before biting off more than he could chew at the 12th on Saturday. That cost him three shots and probably bled into a three-putt at the 14th, but he responded well over the final few holes.
Being outside of the final group can help both him and Halvorsen, the latter surely inspired by compatriot Kristoffer Reitan's come-from-behind win in Belgium and perhaps capable of producing the mid-60s final round he'll need to also become a DP World Tour champion.
Halvorsen has been supremely accurate so far this week and has putted beautifully. He's won at all levels on his way to this one and while he arrived out of form, he has a handy habit of making it pay when on-song and is also respected, with the general 12/1 fair.
However, we're not out of things with Alex Fitzpatrick (three behind) and even Jayden Schaper (five) and the one I want to be on now is Ayora, who has bags of ability and might just become the latest first-time champion in a season full of them. Hopefully, the tournament officials use a couple of forward tees to make the par-fives and short par-fours open to attack, which seems plausible to me and would suit the selection.
Posted at 1720 BST on 28/06/25
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