Molinari survives late scare
Italy’s Francesco Molinari finally got his hands on the BMW PGA Championship trophy as Rory McIlroy’s bid for a second title came up short, despite some unexpected late drama.
A closing 68 gave Molinari a 17-under-par total and two-shot winning margin over playing partner McIlroy, with defending champion Alex Noren and Denmark’s Lucas Bjerregaard a shot further back.
Molinari, whose second place 12 months ago was his fifth top-10 at Wentworth in the last six years, began the day in a tie for the lead with McIlroy but quickly moved clear with birdies on the third, fourth and eighth and never looked like being caught until almost making a mess of the 72nd hole.
Threeaheadplayingthe par-five 18th, Molinari’s third shot to the green almost span back into the water and his fourth left him facing five feet for par, with McIlroy 20 feet away for eagle.
However, McIlroy agonisingly left his attempt inches short and Molinari held his nerve to hole out for par, meaning he had dropped just two shots all week, the last coming on the 10th hole of the second round.
The impressive win will take the 35-year-old back inside the world’s top 20 and into the automatic qualifying places ahead of the Ryder Cup at Le Golf National in Paris in September.
“It feels amazing,” Molinari said. “I think if I could pick one tournament to win in my career it would be this one. To finally get over the line feels amazing and it wasn’t easy. I made it probably more interesting than it should have been.
“Obviously I was hoping Rory wouldn’t make his putt because I wasn’t fancying mine after all that hard work today, but thankfully I holed it anyway.”