‘Dodo’ goes from top to bottom

IT’s been a good couple of weeks for Francesco Molinari (left) with wins in the PGA Championship at Wentworth and the Quicken Loans National on the PGA Tour. Big brother Eduardo, who played with his sibling on the European team in the 2010 Ryder Cup, has been struggling with injuries and form but things seemed to turn in his favour at Ballyliffin yesterday. ‘Dodo’, as he is known, holed out in one at the 14th with a gem of a tee shot. The ace took Molinari to four under par for the day, and level for the tournament. All seemed sunny. But Ballyliffin bared its teeth on the 18th where a wretched six dropped Molinari to two over par and out of the tournament by a shot. Not surprisingly, the distraught Italian declined to talk to reporters afterwards. Of the six players in the top world’s top 50, only two Jon Rahm (69) and Rory McIlroy (73) made the cut. With Rafa Cabrera Bello (71), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (74), Haotong Li (76) and Matthew Fitzpatrick (75) all out, the tournament is wide open for a springer to claim the $1.1m winner’s prize – none of the leading eight players are ranked in the world’s top 100.