BARE MY SOUL: FRANCESCO MOLINARI
WHAT’S been your closest brush with death? I’ve been fortunate enough that there haven’t been any, at least as far as I know. I’m not really an adrenaline junkie so I don’t think I’ve put myself in too many potentially dangerous situations in the 35 years I’ve been on the planet. What are your passions away from golf? I like sports in general, so I’ll watch any sport on TV. I love to play football but it’s a bit too risky with the job. I spend a lot of time with my kids and try to get them involved in sport as much as possible. What football team do you support? I support Inter Milan in Italy and West Ham in England. West Ham have been struggling for longer than anyone wanted now. The new stadium hasn’t been the best results-wise, but we need to give it a bit more time and see how it goes. They really needed to make a good decision for their latest manager and I think Manuel Pellegrini is a good choice. I’m confident he will turn it around. What superpower would you have and why? Probably to be invisible because it can be useful to disappear and for no one to see you sometimes in life. Do you have any secret talents? I’m a good cook but I don’t know if that counts as a secret talent. I can turn my hand to quite a few different dishes but it’s obviously mostly Italian dishes from pizza to pasta. Have you ever had any regrets in life? I’ve always tried to make the best choices and decisions when it was time to make them, so for that reason alone I wouldn’t say I regret anything. You’re based in England now so what do you miss most about Italy? I miss the way of living. It’s a beautiful country and there’s a lot of culture to do with food and wine and just enjoying life. I think people in the UK are a bit more work-driven, which is good in a way, but ideally you want a combination of the two. If you could travel back in time, where would you go? I would go to Ancient Rome so I could see how it was back then and have a look around. There’s still a lot of architecture and artefacts in Italy from that time, but of course these things are now 2,000 years old. I think it would be nice to see all those things when they had just been built and were brand new. Do you have any fears? Yes, many things. Spiders, snakes, many things. I’ve always disliked snakes. I’ve seen a few on golf courses around the world unfortunately and it’s never too pleasant. There are plenty of things I am afraid of but I suppose my biggest fear is not being healthy. What’s your favourite holiday destination? The south of Italy, either Sicily, Puglia or Sardinia. There are many beautiful spots there and the lifestyle is amazing. Who is your non-golfing hero? I don’t want to get too political but probably former US president Barack Obama. It’s been very cool to see the United States having a president like that and I think he’s a great example for my children as well. If you had one day left to live, how would you spend it? I’d sleep in, go to the beach, have some nice food and wine and enjoy the sunset. I’d have to say there probably wouldn’t be any golf.
MY SUPERPOWER WOULD BE INVISIBILITY. SOMETIMES IN LIFE IT CAN BE USEFUL TO DISAPPEAR.