Young Italian golfer Stefano Mazzoli has capped a fine first season on the Asian Tour by scooping the Tour’s Rookie of the Year Award.
Mazzoli finished in 25th place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit with 583.72 points from 16 events, holding off nearest challenger Tatsunori Shogenji from Japan. Shogenji ended in 41st position with 400.93 points.
Both made it through Qualifying School at the start of the year, with the Italian claiming the eighth card and the Japanese golfer the second.
Mazzoli, like Shogenji, also negotiated a First Stage Qualifier the week before Final Stage so the season that followed fully justified his decision to play in Asia and go through the testing and pressure-packed school.
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Stefano Mazzoli. Picture by Kaikungwon Duanjumroon/Asian Tour.
Mazzoli started the season well by making the first three cuts, before mid-way through the season catching the eye by finishing joint fifth in the International Series Morocco. Not long after that he bettered that by claiming joint fourth in the Black Mountain Championship – his best result of the year.
He also tied for sixth at the Link Hong Kong Open towards the end of the year, for his third top 10 of the season. He only missed five cuts and impressively balanced his schedule playing on Europe’s Challenge Tour.
Not surprisingly he becomes the first Italian to win Rooke of the Year honours.
This week the 26-year-old is in the field for the LIV Golf Promotions event, which tees off on Thursday at Riyadh Golf Club and will see the winner earn a place on next year’s LIV Golf League.
His success in the professional game follows on from a strong amateur career. In 2015 he won the European Amateur Championship and later played collegiate golf in the United States for Texas Christian University, graduating in 2019. He competed in the 2016 Open Championship at Royal Troon, where he was one of just two amateurs to play and the only collegiate golfer in the field.
He succeeds Taichi Kho as Rookie of the Year. He won following a season the saw him become the first player from Hong Kong to win an Asian Tour event – at the World City Championship at the Hong Kong Golf Club, his home club – and become the first golfer from the SAR to claim the individual title at the Asian Games.