Molinari conquers Car-nasty and Tiger
First Italian major winner plays it cool in Woods pairing
Francesco Molinari’s first taste of major championship golf was caddying for his older brother at the Masters.
But 12 years on, he was the Molinari saving the pars and making the putts under duress, and he is no longer under the shadow of any Italian golfer after his pressure-proof performance at this year’s British Open.
At age 35, Molinari gave Italy its first victory in a major Sunday by outplaying a tightly packed field that included defending champion Jordan Spieth, a resurgent Tiger Woods and the leading European players of Molinari’s generation: Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy.
While star after star fell back, Molinari maintained a steady course. And although a Woods victory, after all his health and personal challenges, would have been a comeback tale that transcended golf, that was not Molinari’s concern.
“I was competing against all the other guys as well, not only against him,” 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 up on Woods, Eddie Pepperell and Kevin Chappell.
Internally, the magnitude of the moment must have been difficult to navigate for Molinari at Carnoustie Golf Links, which has been the scene of some of the most extreme reversals of fortune in the game’s long championship history. It is also a course Molinari has even avoided in the past.
“I mean, there was everything to make someone nervous,” Molinari said.
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,” Molinari said, “but to go bogeyfree over the weekend on a track like this is incredible.”
Carnoustie was ripe for the attacking Saturday, with light winds and relatively soft conditions after Friday’s rain. But on Sunday it was full of its traditional snarl. The wind returned, drying out the fairways and demanding constant adaptation from the combatants.
“I think Carnoustie showed its teeth today,” said Jean Van de Velde, the Frenchman who famously blew a three-shot lead on the 72nd hole of the 1999 Open at Carnoustie. “Hats off to Francesco, because he really played well.”
Of the eight players in the final four groups Sunday, only Molinari finished under par. He started the day three shots behind the American co-leaders: Spieth, Schauffele and Kisner, who were at 9 under. But as the leaders faltered, the focus soon shifted to Molinari’s pairing with Woods, who took the outright lead at 7 under as they finished the front nine.
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 Woods faltered. Alongside him, Molinari maintained his composure and an unblemished scorecard, with par after par.
“He’s always been self-contained,” Van de Velde said. “What is remarkable about Francesco is the way his putting has changed.”
His older brother Edoardo was once viewed as the family’s best putter, but Francesco has altered his putting technique, activating more of his upper body, while also upgrading his mental game. He hired Dave Alred, a British performance coach who has also worked with golfers including Luke Donald and Padraig Harrington. Molinari credited Alred for his new sang-froid under pressure, and both men were on the putting green Sunday before Molinari headed to the first tee.
Molinari had nary a threeputt on the final day, but he did have to scramble. On the sixth hole, he put his drive into a bunker, blasted out, hit a 2-iron into another bunker, blasted out to five feet and sank the par putt.
“Saving the par on 6 was massive,” Molinari said.
He did not make his first birdie until the par-5 14th, and he made his final birdie at No. 18 after a memorable second shot downwind with his sand wedge that stopped rolling five feet from the cup. That gave him a one-stroke lead over Schauffele. When Schauffele’s approach shot landed well short of the pin on the 18th green, Molinari began hugging the members of his team and his wife, Valentina, who was crying behind her dark sunglasses.
“It’s been a long journey,” Molinari said, cradling the claret jug awarded to the Open champion. “And when you are holding this, it changes a few things.”
After all the final-round, finalhole madness at Carnoustie in recent years, Molinari restored a sense of order. It wasn’t irresistible theatre like Van de Velde’s collapse in 1999 or Harrington’s playoffwin over Sergio Garcia in 2007. Instead, it was Molinari who was irresistible.
“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. Obviously playing with Tiger makes it even more special. I couldn’t have written it any better.”