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For two of the Italians in next month’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur, it might be a dream week deferred. With the whole of Italy on lockdown until April 3 due to coronavirus concerns, Alessia Nobilio and Benedetta Moresco might not be able to make the trip to Georgia.
“I’m feeling really bad right now due to this situation,” said Nobilio, “knowing that I probably won’t be there. It’s getting me crazy.”
Italy has reported the most cases of the COVID-19 virus outside of China. More than 12,000 people have been infected and 827 have died, with Italy’s Civil Protection Agency saying that 200 of those deaths came in the last 24 hours.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic. President Donald Trump then announced during a prime-time address that all travel from Europe would be banned for 30 days starting on Friday. There are six players from Europe who are not on U.S. college golf teams, including Moresco and Nobilio, in the ANWA field. The event is scheduled to take place April 1-4.
Augusta National released a statement last week saying the Masters and ANWA remain on schedule. The club did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.
Moresco, 18, was supposed to make her first start in a professional event last week at the Symetra Tour’s season-opening Florida’s Natural Charity Classic, but her flight was canceled, and she couldn’t get out of Italy. She worried that if she was able to come to the ANWA later in the month, she might be placed under a two-week quarantine.
“To see Augusta from the television, it’s magic,” said Moresco, who heads to Alabama in the fall to join older sister Angelica. “I was really looking forward to playing on the course and seeing the place.”
Moresco, who lives about 90 minutes outside of Venice, earned her exemption into the Symetra event by virtue of her win at the AJGA Annika Invitational. That event marked her time competing in the U.S.
Nobilio, a future UCLA Bruin, competed in last year’s ANWA and missed the cut. She’s currently No. 3 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Moresco is seventh.
The other three Italians in the field are currently in the U.S. playing college golf: Emilie Paltrinieri (UCLA), Anna Zanusso (Denver) and Caterina Don (Georgia).
Nobilio, 18, lives in Milan, one of the areas most impacted by the coronavirus. Her parents now work from home and go to the grocery store once a week to buy in bulk. Nobilio does her schoolwork online. She is able to practice at her home club because she is preparing for an international competition. The course is 15 minutes from her house, and she’s the only one there.
“I’m doing the same things for golf that I was doing before,” she said. “I feel like I’m ready.”
Nobilio was scheduled to leave Milan on March 27 for Atlanta, plans she had made before Trump announced the travel ban.
“We really don’t know right now what is going to happen,” she said. “Everybody is just connected to the TV to understand day by day. Everything can change.”
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