Danny Willett insists it is imperative that he remains fresh ahead of the Ryder Cup in Hazeltine this month and has pared back his schedule ahead of the tournament.
The Sheffield native has only taken part in two of the last six events on offer and has opted to spend more time at home to work on different facets of his game.
"We've taken a bit more time off and we've trained and worked at hard home so we could play Crans [Montana, Switzerland] this course [Golf Club Milano]," he told Nick Dye.
"They're two courses that we like and it helps us get some good stuff before the Ryder Cup.
"Over the course of the first two and a half days, we did some really nice work. I haven't made too many mistakes. It's nice that what we planned to do over the last two months is semi-coming off.
"It doesn't always go to plan but for the most part we've played some really good golf."
Willett explained that his game is slowly coming together and has seen some big improvements ahead of Europe's calsh with the US.
"Things don't always [click] like that but I spoke to Darren [Clarke, Ryder Cup captain] and we agreed not to play too much golf. It's going to be a busy week obviously. I don't really know what to expect but people say it's a tiring week at the Ryder Cup. So it's important that I get my rest in and not play too much golf to stay fresh.
"That was the plan to play two events out of a possible six. Like I said, it's nice to come here and see the stuff you've been doing at home and then you come here to shoot some good rounds."
The change in preparation has also been telling in his routine prior to going out on course and warming up for the round ahead of him.
"It's a tough one, I've to get up early these days to get everything warmed up. We were up at 4.15am the last two days. We've been in the gym warming up and we're right on top of things.
"But it's tough when you get up at 4.15am and then you start with bogey-bogey-bogey-bogey and you feel like you could have just stayed in bed!"
Rain has plagued the Italian Open which began on Thursday and the constant stoppages in play have made it difficult for players to pick up any sort of momentum.
"If we get two good days weather we'll be back on track by tomorrow mid morning. So as long as the weather holds off, the golf course can only get drier, it's quite wet with what's happened."
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