Bernard gallacher
Francesco kept his cool as Tiger roared then ultimately whimpered
You would never have guessed Francesco Molinari was Italian, judging by the way he handled himself during the final round of The Open.
While everyone else was finding trouble at Carnoustie, Francesco kept cool – not like your average fiery Italian!
It worked a treat as not a single bogey over the final 36 holes ensured he deserves to be the Champion Golfer of the Year.
Francesco has always been a very good player, and everyone reveres his swing. But he’s moved to a new level this summer.
It started when he outplayed Rory Mcilroy to win the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. That was significant.
Then he became the first Italian to win on the PGA Tour for 71 years at the Quicken Loans event, where he obliterated the field by eight strokes.
Throw in two second spots and he arrived in Scotland with his confidence sky high and his game in tip-top shape.
Thanks to his new-found belief on the greens, hlast Sunday e wasn’t daunted by playing alongside a rejuvenated Tiger Woods, nor by a leaderboard that included Rory Mcilroy and Jordan Spieth.
I rang his long-time coach, Denis Pugh, in midweek, to offer my congratulations. It was nice to hear how their partnership has now paid off.
I remember following Francesco’s Singles match with Tiger in the 2010 Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor.
Their play was equal from tee to green, but Tiger won 4&3 because Francesco missed a few on the greens.
For too long, you always felt he was liable to miss a short putt –and I mean short.
So it’s to the enormous credit of Francesco and his team that he has found a way to get the ball in the hole consistently.
When he was stood over the birdie putt on the 18th green last Sunday, I was so confident he would make it. He would have known it was a putt to possibly win The Open and he stood up to the test.
Now he’s a Major winner, I don’t see any reason why he should stop here. He’s a very modest guy but a very hard worker, so I don’t expect him to rest on his laurels.
At one point last Sunday, it looked as if Francesco was going to be playing alongside the new Open Champion in Woods.
What a story that would have been. It wasn’t to be, but there were so many positives for Tiger.
The key shot was his third at the 11th. Normally Tiger has superb strategy, but he tried a lowpercentage chip and it failed.
He was in the lead at the time and should have realised that even a bogey would have kept him in a share of the lead.
Woods went for it because he doesn’t trust his putting. In his pomp, he would have chipped to 10 feet and backed himself to hole the putt.
This year, whenever he has been near the lead on a Sunday, he hasn’t holed enough putts. But that’s understandable for a guy of 42, who’s been away from the game for so long.
But his tie for sixth was enough to get him back into the world’s top 50, which is a great effort having started the year at 668th.
Tiger has also done enough to get into the American Ryder Cup team. He’s a definite for one of Jim Furyk’s four picks.
There are not 12 better golfers than Tiger on current form.
And European captain Thomas Bjorn would much prefer a Tigerless US team than one with him supplementing their young stars.