It all comes down to this one for Molinari
dubai — After more than a decade on Tour and playing different golf courses around the globe, it all comes down to this one for Francesco Molinari.
True, the journey has been laden with many up and downs and some memorable wins, not least the The Open and BMW PGA Championship this season as well as being a crucial member of Ryder Cup-winning teams in 2010, 2012 and more recently in France this year, but the Italian finally has a crack at being the undisputed king of Europe.
Molinari, who turned 36 last Thursday, heads into the final week of the European Tour season at the DP World Tour Championship at the Earth Course of the Jumeirah Golf Estates in prime position to win the Race to Dubai title. Molinari leads with 4,709,921 points, 1,025,166 points more than Ryder Cup partner Englishman Tommy Fleetwood and a positive result will cap what he termed a “dream season.”
“It feels obviously incredible. A new position for me. I’ve never been here in the past,” Molinari said on the eve of the tournament on Wednesday.
“I think obviously it’s just a consequence and a sign of an incredible season. I would have never guessed that I would be here in this position if you told me in April or May this year, but it’s been an incredible summer, topped by an unbelievable Ryder Cup. Really, it’s a dream season for me, and it’s nice to be here in this position. Hopefully I’ll be able to close it out. I know it’s not going to be easy, and
I’m not making any assumptions, but I’ll do my best on the Course to do the job,” he added.
Depending on how you look at it, Molinari perhaps has the easiest of jobs, in the sense that a top-five finish will land him the crown even if defending Race to Dubai champion Fleetwood wins the tournament. But nothing is plain easy and Molinari knows that better than anyone else and the Italian knows its far from being dusted.
“I’m not the kind of guy that show up for an event and thinks, I want to win this week. My mental process is more, you know, showing up to the event and I need to do this and this and this to play well, and I need to go and play shot by shot and round by round,” explained Molinari.
“I usually don’t get too far ahead of myself. So in that way, you know, on Thursday morning, nothing is going to be different. I need to go out and play my best, do my best, and hopefully on Sunday, I’ll be leading or I’ll be in with a chance. But if not, I’ll still go out Sunday morning and do my best and if Tommy wins, obviously, you know, fair play to him. He’s had a great season so far, and to win here, it would make him the deserving winner of The Race to Dubai,” he added.