Molinari wins British Open in a first for Italy
Rose and McIlroy lead group of four tied for second spot
CARNOUSTIE, SCOTLAND — Francesco Molinari won the British Open on a blustery and sunny Sunday, giving Italy its first victory at one of golf’s major championships.
Molinari, 35, outplayed a densely packed field in the final round that included defending champion Jordan Spieth, a resurgent Tiger Woods and the two leading European players of Molinari’s generation: Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy.
Internally, the pressure of the moment must have been difficult to manage at Carnoustie Golf Links. But externally, he displayed nothing but cool, going without a bogey over the final two rounds on what is widely considered the most difficult course on the British Open rotation.
“The course bit me a few times the first couple days but to go bogey-free over the weekend on a track like this is incredible,” Molinari said.
His final-round score, 69, allowed him to finish with an 8-under-par total of 276: two strokes ahead of Rose, McIlroy, Kevin Kisner and Xander Schauffele and three strokes ahead of Woods, Eddie Pepperell and Kevin Chappell.
“With the carnage going on out there — guys making double bogeys and triple bogeys and bogeys — Francesco stood up,” said Paul McGinley, the former European Ryder Cup player and captain. “He was tuned in, and he won this tournament. With all the guys up there looking to win and all the guys in the equation, one guy stood out.”
Molinari started the day three shots behind the American coleaders: Spieth, Schauffele and Kisner, who were at 9-under par. But the leaders faltered and the focus soon shifted to Molinari’s pairing with Woods, who took the outright lead at 7-under as they finished the front nine.
Woods, the 42-year-old American, remains golf’s biggest star even without having won a major championship in 10 years, or any tournament in five. The buzz and gallery following Woods continued to grow as he made a scrambling par on the 10th hole after a full-force blast from a fairway bunker to the front edge of the green.
But a wayward drive on No. 11 opened the door to a double bogey that dropped Woods out of the lead for good. Alongside him, Molinari kept his composure and an unblemished scorecard, with par after par after par.
Molinari made his first birdie of the round on No. 14 and his final birdie on No. 18 with a memorable second shot downwind that rolled to 5 feet of the cup.
That gave him a one-stroke lead over Schauffele, the 24-yearold American who has already forged a habit of producing his best golf at the game’s biggest events. But a bogey by Schauffele at 17 gave Molinari a two-stroke cushion, and although there had been one eagle on 18 this week (when Zander Lombard holed out from the fairway), Schauffele could not manage it.
When Schauffele’s approach shot landed well short of the pin on the 18th green, Molinari immediately stopped practising his putting for a possible playoff and began hugging the members of his extensive team and his wife, Valentina, who was crying behind her dark sunglasses.
“It’s been a long journey really, and now obviously you see the end result and when you are holding this, it changes a few things,” said Molinari, cradling the claret jug that is awarded to the Open champion.
“I got a lot of help from all the team, and I think the last few weeks, the last month, it has just been confidence.”
Molinari’s older brother, Edoardo Molinari, is also a veteran professional golfer, and was the more successful of the brothers as an amateur, winning the U.S. Amateur in 2005 and then playing the Masters the following year with Francesco as his caddie.
They later were teammates on the European Ryder Cup team in 2010, but Francesco has taken his game to a higher level this season.
“For the first time I felt I was ready for it,” Molinari said.
“It could have happened. It could not have happened, but I knew I was going to do what I needed to do,” he added.
“Obviously playing with Tiger makes it even more special. I couldn’t have written it any better.”