Coach has been major help for Molinari
MILAN Francesco Molinari’s road to major success started with a coffee.
When Molinari met elite performance coach Dave Alred at the start of 2016, the Italian golfer was ranked 78th in the world. Fast-forward two years and Molinari is now ranked sixth and has won three of his last six tournaments, including last month’s British Open.
“I was looking for a different figure in my staff,” Molinari said Wednesday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “I was looking for someone who could help me get more out of my training, out of my practice. We had some common friends that got us in touch.
“So we just met in London for a coffee and we started chatting. I was curious to know more about him and what he did and he was curious to know more about me and my character and my way to approach golf and I think we both realized we were a good match and we started shortly after.”
Alred has worked with some of the biggest names in sport, including golfers such as Luke Donald and Padraig Harrington, and has been labelled a “genius” by rugby World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson.
Alred’s work centres around what he calls the “ugly zone” and making something that has become comfortable uncomfortable with practice sessions that most closely resemble the strains of competition.
“He’s helped me in many ways,” said Molinari, who was in Akron, Ohio, for this week’s Bridgestone Invitational. “I had a very good team around me already, but we were probably missing someone like him, someone who does what he does. He makes my training sessions more interesting, more ugly — like he says — and just more productive.”
That culminated in Molinari becoming the first Italian golfer to win a major when he clinched the claret jug July 22 at Carnoustie.
Playing alongside Tiger Woods, who caused a stir by taking the lead in the final round of a major for the first time in nine years, Molinari was overlooked for much of the final day.
But having gone the entire weekend without a bogey, Molinari finished with a five-foot birdie putt to win the world’s oldest major championship.
“It was nice to see Tiger back,” Molinari said. “He played really good on the front nine and then he made a couple of costly mistakes on the back nine, but he was very good, he was very nice to me at the end.
“It was nice to be alongside him and it made that day even more special for me to win alongside one of my models and idols.”
Molinari has history with Woods, having played against him in two Ryder Cups. Woods won in 2010 on the final day, but Europe went on to win the trophy. Molinari’s halved match against Woods in 2012 also gave his side outright victory.
The 35-year-old Molinari, who said “it would be nice to have another rematch,” is hoping to have even more of an impact on this year’s edition, which takes place at the end of September in Paris.
“I feel like I’m a better player and I feel like I can probably and hopefully help the team more than what I did last time,” he said.
“I think it’s an extremely talented team with some really exciting young players, so I’m really happy to be part of it.”