The HotelPlanner Tour's only stop in Finland is the 21st of 29 events on the calendar. The Vierumäki Finnish Challenge, held at Vierumäki Golf (Cooke Course), in the city from which the club takes its name, is scheduled for August 14-17. Seven Italians will be competing: Stefano Mazzoli, Aron Zemmer, Lorenzo Scalise, Enrico Di Nitto, Luca Memeo, Giovanni Manzoni, and Flavio Michetti.
Mazzoli, schedule
The field includes eleven of the top 20 finishers in the Road to Mallorca (order of merit), which, despite a few absences, is of good quality, including eight of the nine winners of the current year. Particular attention will be focused on the top four in the rankings, with three of them among the favorites: England's Joshua Berry (No. 1), Scotland's David Law (No. 4), and France's Oihan Guillamoundeguy, fresh from his victory in the Irish Challenge. The fourth-place finisher, South African Daniel Van Tonder, is a bit perplexing. He won the first two tournaments of the season, then sat out from mid-February to early August and gradually slipped to eighth place in the rankings.
He recovered in Scotland and Ireland, but on both occasions he made the cut, complaining of poor form. A third win would see him directly promoted to the main tour, but without that possibility, he needs to earn points. With just a few matches remaining, he's unlikely to fall out of the top 20, who will be eligible for the 2026 DP World Tour at the end of the year, but a good ranking is important to have a better chance of playing. The other five winners have lost some of their brilliance: Spaniards Quim Vidal (No. 10) and Rocco Paolo Repetto Taylor (No. 16), Frenchmen Felix Mory (No. 11) and Clement Charmasson (No. 13), and American Palmer Jackson (No. 24), who is currently out of the top 20.
Also to watch are Denmark's Victor Sidal Svendsen, South Africa's Wilco Nienaber, Switzerland's Ronan Kleu, Scotland's Calum Fyfe, Spain's Adri Arnaus, Australia's Hayden Hopewell, and England's Will Enefer. The tournament, founded in 2001 and now in its 16th edition, features three past winners: Finns Lauri Ruuska (2023) and Kim Koivu (2018), and Wales' Stuart Manley (2013), but none appear capable of challenging for the title.
With Renato Paratore (No. 5) and Filippo Celli (No. 8) absent, Stefano Mazzoli, a 28-year-old from Segrate (MI), is expected to compete. With his fifth-place finish last Sunday in Ireland, he moved up 14 spots in the rankings, now sitting in 20th place, and thus in the last spot available to change circuits. It would be a fitting reward for a player who also competes on the Asian Tour and who has always cashed in on the HotelPlanner Tour with four top-ten finishes in 13 appearances. Still seeking consistency are Lorenzo Scalise, a 30-year-old from Vimercate (MB), Enrico Di Nitto, a 32-year-old from Rome, and Aron Zemmer, a 34-year-old from Bolzano, while making their season debuts are Luca Memeo, a 20-year-old from Milan, Giovanni Manzoni, a 25-year-old also from Milan, and Flavio Michetti, a 21-year-old from Ascoli Piceno. The prize pool is €300,000, of which €48,000 will go to the winner.
