KISS & WAKE UP
No Moliwood repeat but Fran tells Tommy: I won’t mind if you end up in bed with another European
FRANCESCO MOLINARI insists he won’t be jealous if Tommy Fleetwood ends up in bed with the Ryder Cup and another partner next weekend.
And the Italian wants to get back with the Englishman in 2023 to rekindle their bromance.
The Moliwood pairing famously combined to win all four Paris matches together in 2018 as Europe romped to victory over the USA.
And the enduring image of the long French weekend will be the video of Molinari and Fleetwood waking up together with the trophy after a drunken night of celebration.
The Italian became the first European ever to win all five of his matches in 2018 but will be watching Whistling Straits from his LA home after failing to qualify this year.
The world No.167 said: “I wish I could be there but it is not going to be too weird.
“I wish them all the best and I hope to see Tommy and the rest of the team celebrating at the end – however they do it! Will I mind if he ends up in bed again? No!
“I’m hoping we get another chance in the future. Hopefully, that’s not the end of our partnership. It would be great to be there together in Rome.
“Every bit of the partnership with him was just brilliant. Winning matches, you have fun. I will make sure I phone him every night to keep in the right frame of mind.”
European captain Padraig Harrington has the task of finding Fleetwood a new partner in Wisconsin.
Molinari added: “Tommy has the advantage of being a kind of player with no weaknesses so you can pair him up pretty much with anyone.
“Sometimes it’s a doubleedged sword because you end up filling the gaps when you are like that. So hopefully they think he’s a big enough player now to be at the start of the pecking order.
“Tommy is going to be fine. He will be one of the team leaders though it didn’t feel like he was a Ryder Cup rookie last time.”
Molinari, 38, was the hottest player on the planet in 2018 as he won his first PGA Tour title by eight shots and then The Open before his Ryder Cup heroics.
But the former world No.5 has never been the same player since losing the final-round lead at the 2019 Masters in heartbreaking style. And moving his family from London to Los Angeles just before the pandemic, coupled with a back injury which saw him miss the Olympics, has seen him slowly slide down the rankings.
He added: “It’s been pretty difficult because it has been a big jump backwards for various reasons.
“It’s been the toughest stretch in my career in terms of injuries and just not being really consistent as I always was. But that’s golf, that’s life. There are challenges and hopefully I can find a way to get out of it.”