As Italian jobs go, Francesco Molinari’s barnstorming, glory-laden 2018 campaign certainly blew a few bloody doors off.
Victory in the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, and the PGA Tour’s Quicken Loans National were the aperitifs to the mouth-watering dishes he served up by winning the Open Championship and racking up five wins out of five for Europe in the Ryder Cup.
Such was the dream-like state of his thrilling year, Molinari is probably still black and blue from the amount of pinching he’s had to do to himself.
The cake was iced more times than a Mary Berry documentary and topping that won’t be easy. In fact, it may just be impossible.
“To be honest, I’ve achieved my dream … that was winning the Open last year,” he said during a conference call ahead of his defence of the Claret Jug at Royal Portrush this July.
“I’ve achieved another dream too and that was to be one of the best players of the Ryder Cup. So, I think I’m at a stage where I’ve achieved my dreams and whatever comes now is going to be a bonus.”
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This sense of satisfaction doesn’t mean that the canny, calm but fiercely competitive Molinari is going to sit back and rest on his laurels, though.
“I still have a lot of desire and I want to win more,” added the 36-year-old, who kept the sprightly momentum ticking over with victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational last month. “I got a taste of it last year and it was great.
“For me, winning is a huge motivation and spurs me on to do even more, and that’s what I’ve done this winter, working as hard as I have ever done. And I think you can see from the way I’m playing that I didn’t settle, I didn’t stop. I feel like I haven’t reached my limit yet.”
Since winning the Open, Molinari and the Claret Jug have just about been joined at the hip. Martin Slumbers, the chief executive of the R&A, will have to surgically remove it when the Italian arrives at Portrush ahead of the 148th championship to hand it back.
This cherished clump of silverware has been enjoyed by many in the Molinari camp. The reaction of his older brother Edoardo, who partnered Francesco in the Ryder Cup-winning side of 2010 but has suffered with some serious injury problems since then, was particularly poignant.
“The best reaction was probably from my brother when he came to visit me in London,” recalled Molinari. “Just to see his face, holding the Claret Jug, one on the most iconic trophies in sport, you could just see the pure joy. I remember as a kid, both of us, my brother and me, dreaming about only getting into majors, so I think for him as well to hold the Claret Jug and to know that one of us had made it was an incredible feeling.”
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There have been many people involved with Molinari’s majestic rise. While coaches come and go and backroom teams chop and change during a career, the Turin man is keen to ensure an instrumental figure from his formative years gets the chance to revel in the reflected glory.
“I would love to take the Claret Jug to Sergio Bertaina, my first coach in Turin as I haven’t had the chance unfortunately to be there yet,” he said. “He was the guy who introduced me to golf and coached me until I was on tour. I think he deserves to hold it and see it.
“He loves golf as much as anyone, so I would love to again see his face holding the Claret Jug.”
After a 68 year absence, Portrush steps back into the limelight as an Open venue this summer.
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Apart from the two new holes that have been fashioned, Molinari does have experience of the robust Dunluce links having contested the Irish Open there in 2012.
As defending Open champion, he is determined to savour the experience. “It might be the only time in my career that I get to defend a major title, you never know” he said. “I need to make the most of it, no matter how it goes.”
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