Edoardo Molinari fired a course-record eight-under-par 63 at Circolo Golf Torino to take the first-round lead at the DS Automobiles 83° Open d’Italia, finishing one stroke clear of Chile’s Joaquín  Niemann.

The 45-year-old, making just his sixth start of the 2026 season after wrist and thumb surgeries, produced ten birdies on a sweltering day in Turin to move to the top of the leaderboard at a venue he knows better than anyone. Molinari estimates he and brother Francesco have played the layout thousands of times since childhood. Neither had ever held the course record until Thursday.

“It was great. I had my family, my wife, my kids, my physio who I spent the last six months with pretty much every day,” Molinari said. “He did an amazing job together with everyone else. It was a very pleasing day.”

The moment @DodoMolinari made his 10th birdie of the day to break the course record 😍#ItalianOpen https://t.co/Yh2Bomd3Nm pic.twitter.com/2HAabBPiTc

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 25, 2026

How the Round Unfolded

Molinari opened birdie-birdie-birdie before dropping shots at the fourth and fifth to turn in 34. His round accelerated on the back nine. He holed from off the green at the tenth, converted mid-range putts at the 11th and 14th, two-putted for birdie at the par-five 15th, and sank a 20-footer on the 17th before hitting a smart approach into the last.

The Ryder Cup vice-captain, who sits 205th on the Race to Dubai Rankings, had regained his DP World Tour card through the 2024 Qualifying School but managed only 16 events since then due to two separate operations.

“I had a few weeks off before this event and I tried to put my swing a bit together because I wasn’t really playing very well in the beginning of the season,” he said. “Obviously I had surgery last year in August, so I was very, very rusty.”

He credited a driver change for the late-round surge. “I changed the driver last week and I have to say the new driver from Titleist is amazing,” he said. “I think the driving today made a big difference.”

Niemann and the Chasing Pack

Niemann turned in 31 with five birdies, then added gains at the 14th and 15th to reach seven under. A three-putt bogey on the 16th stalled his momentum, and while he recovered with a birdie at the last for a 64, Molinari’s closing run had already moved the target.

Italian Guido Migliozzi, Spain’s Nacho Elvira and Rocco Repetto Taylor, New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori and France’s Tom Vaillant were two shots off the lead at six under. A further group at five under included Angel Hidalgo, Pablo Larrazábal and Eugenio Chacarra, giving Spain seven players inside the top 15.

A heatwave over Turin left conditions softer than usual for the time of year. Molinari said the greens could not be made firm, which left the course “a little bit more gettable.”

Should no one beat his 63 later in the week, Molinari will collect a US$40,000 Course Record Award presented by Nexo.

Related: Francesco Molinari Named Europe Vice-Captain for 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare Manor

The former Open champion will serve in the role for a third consecutive Ryder Cup, joining brother Edoardo on Luke Donald's backroom staff as Europe targets a historic treble in Ireland.

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