LOCATION: Royal Park I Roveri Club, Turin, Italy

DATE: September 13-16, 2012

European Tour Golf Betting Odds: With Italian golf stronger than ever before, the BMW Italian Open returns for the fourth consecutive year to the Royal Park I Roveri club in Turin. Defending the title will be England's Robert Rock.

The Italian Open has been part of the European Tour schedule since the tour's debut season in 1972. But the tournament goes back much farther, first played in 1925. BMW has been the title sponsor since the 2009 tourney. Past winners include Tony Jacklin, Mark James, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Sam Torrance, Greg Norman, Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell.

In 2010 it had a prize fund of $1.3 million, which was one of the smaller purses among the European Tour events played in Europe itself. So with the small purse and being played one week before the U.S. Open, most top ranked players will probably skip this event, including some of Italy's best. The Molinari brothers and teen sensation Matteo Manassero will all likely miss this year's BMW Italian Open in order to rest and prepare for the second Major championship of the year. This should pave the way for a rookie or no-name player to etch his name on the trophy.

In order to make the BMW Italian Open one of the premiere stops on the European Tour, the purse needs to be increased and the date must be changed. It's simple – it's difficult to attract a star-studded field one week prior to any Major championship and it doesn't help when the purse is the lowest on Tour.

2011 BMW Italian Open Winner - Robert Rock Wins 2011 BMW Italian Open title

Englishman Robert Rock led from the very first round at the BMW Italian Open and he shot a final-round of 67 to end the tournament 21-under, just ahead of fellow countryman Gary Boyd and Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen.

Rock slipped up early with a bogey at the par-four-third, but he soon got his challenge back on track with four successive birdies from the fifth hole to reach the turn in three-under. He picked up two more shots with back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11, and a bogey at the par-three 12th was soon erased by a seventh birdie at the 13th. The 34-year-old then pared the remaining five holes, and it was enough for him to end a nine-year wait to win a title on the tour.

Check back the week of June 13-16 and Bookmaker Sportsbook will have live odds for the 2012 BMW Italian Open.