Three-Way Tie at the Top After Round 1 of Memorial Giorgio Bordoni Presented by AON

Como, May 7^th, 2025 – After the opening round of the 2025 Memorial Giorgio Bordoni presented by AON, we have a very tight leaderboard. Co-leading at 6 under-par Italy’s Flavio Michetti and Edoardo Giletta and France’s Xavier Poncelet. There is a 5-way tie for 4^th place at 5 under-par.

The opening round of the 11^th edition of the 2025 Memorial Giorgio Bordoni presented by Aon teed off early this morning under overcast skies, with occasional bursts of sunshine and light winds. However, at 2:17 p.m. local time, the Tournament Director, Mr. Alessandro Pia had to suspend play due to inclement weather in the area. Play was able to resume at 3:15 p.m. local time under some overcast skies, chillier temperatures and some occasional light rain showers.

This tournament is taking place at the prestigious Golf Club La Pinetina in Appiano Gentile, just outside Como.

Since its inception in 2014, the event has been a mainstay on the Alps Tour calendar, it is named after and dedicated to the highly regarded golf instructor, Giorgio Bordoni who unexpectedly passed away in 2013 at the age of 48.
 

Round 1 Player Quotes

Flavio Michetti, 21 from Italy, co-leads alongside Xavier Poncelet and Edoardo Giletta after the opening round with a bogey-free, 6 under-par, 64. He teed off on the 1^st hole where he made 4 birdies in a row from hole 2 to hole 5, after making the turn he went on to make 2 more birdies on hole 10 and 17 to conclude the day. Michetti turned professional 2 years ago and has earned various top 3 finishes in the past few seasons. “I began my day with the only goal to have a solid game throughout the entire day. I must say though, that my putting worked extremely well today as I made only 25 putts. I was able to hole 3 putts over 10 meters. I’m satisfied as I put together a very good score but now my focus shifts to round 2 tomorrow.” Michetti is grateful about the “few hours on the range I spent with coach, Alberto Binaghi yesterday afternoon, we had a really good practice session together and I was able to find some great feelings I brought with me today. Obviously, there is always more work to do but it’s a great start.” 

France’s Xavier Poncelet, 39, a past winner on the Alps Tour, co-leads after day 1 with a bogey-free 6 under-par, 64 making 3 birdies on the front nine and 3 more on the back nine to end his round. Poncelet attributes today’s result to the “hard work I put in this winter and now it’s been about 2 months I’ve been playing well, and I felt really good on the course for the whole day. Today the course was soft, and I felt I could be very aggressive when I placed my tee shots in the fairways. The greens were responsive too so you could create many birdie opportunities. The greenkeeping staff did an amazing job to have the course playable for us with all the rain.” Poncelet is pleased “as I hit 17 greens today and all aspects of my game were very solid.”

Edoardo Giletta, 27, from Italy, is the third player co-leading after a bogey-free opening round. He made 3 birdies on the front and back nine for a 6 under-par, 64. After his round, Giletta commented he “found the course a bit soft, but I didn’t make many mistakes today and my putter helped me a lot throughout the round. I strongly believe that my iron game adapts really well to this course, I hit them very well today and was able to hit many greens in regulations.”
 

England’s Mason Essam, 25, is in a 5-way tie for 4^th place with a first-round score of 5 under-par, 65. His best finish so far this season is a tie for 6^th place at our last event in Tunisia. For today’s opening round, Essam teed off on the front-nine where he made 4 birdies and 1 bogey, once he made the turn, he added 3 more birdies and 1 bogey. Essam experienced, “a weird situation on the 4^th hole today, my ball caught some wires that are in the air and the ball went close. However, I had to re-hit the shot and consequently missed the green but chipped in and I felt that situation turned my round around.”  A lot of rain has fallen over G.C. La Pinetina over the past few days but Essam, “can’t believe how well the course dried out with the amount of rain we had the past few days. Obviously, some areas are wet and moist, but the greens are perfect. The greenkeepers did a fabulous job to prepare the course for us.”  In Egypt and Tunisia, “I was really struggling with my game but worked really hard over the last few weeks, so now I’m just going to focus on keep doing the same things and not get too far ahead of myself.” 

Nicolas Aparicio, 32, from France, who is the 2^nd player in the 5-way tie for 4^th place with an opening round of 5 under-par, 65. He teed off on hole 1 today where he made 2 bogeys and 3 birdies on holes 6, 8 and 9. Once Aparicio made the turn, he added 4 more birdies on holes 10, 14, 15 and 17. With two rounds left here at GC La Pinetina, ” I want to keep doing the same thing as I did today, I want to really enjoy myself out there.” Seven months ago, Aparicio became a father and: “After Lacanau Golf Open which will be disputed at the end of May, I have decided I will stop playing competitive golf so even though, I didn’t have a fabulous start making a bogey on hole 1, I was happy to be out there and I want to really enjoy these last few tournaments. With that mindset, it allowed me to enjoy the day and make the birdies.” 

Alongside Essam and Aparicio in the 5-way tie for 4^th place with a score of 5 under-par, 65 there is: France’s Victor Veyret, Italy’s Marco Florioli and Spain’s Asier Aguirre Izcue. 

The highlight of the day belongs to Italy’s Lucas Fallotico who made a fantastic Hole-In-One on the 133 meters, 2^ndhole with a Pitching Wedge.

The 2025 Memorial Giorgio Bordoni presented by AON offers a total prize fund of €42,500, and 45,000 Order of Merit points. The winner will take home €6,200 and earn 6,525 points toward the Order of Merit standings.

Round 2

Round 2 of the 2025 Memorial Giorgio Bordoni presented by AON continues tomorrow, with the first two groups going out at 7:30 am local time from the 1^st and 10^th hole.

Once Round 2 is completed a cut will be made to the top 40 professionals and ties, plus amateurs within the cut. In the event of a tie at the conclusion of the final round, the tournament winner will be decided by a sudden-death play-off.

Tournament Promoter

The majority of the Alps Tour events that are played on Italian soil, like this week’s 2025 Memorial Giorgio Bordoni presented by AON is organized by the Italian Pro Tour, which is a branch of the Italian Golf Federation. They are responsible for promoting the majority of the professional golf events that occur in Italy.

For this week’s event, AON is the tournament Presenting Sponsor.

The main sponsors and partners that support the Italian Pro Tour during the 2025 season include: Fideuram Intesa SanPaolo Private Banking (Official Bank); Enel (Official Sponsor); Kappa (Technical Supplier); Poste Assicura (Official Supplier) and as an Official advisor: Infront Italy.