Edoardo

Molinari

The 40-year-old Molinari opened with a 1-under 70 at Torrey Pines and finished with rounds of 76-72-71 to finish at 5-over 289 and 11 shots behind winner Jon Rahm. Molinari had secured his 11th start in a major championship with a T-2 finish at the Porsche European Open, which was also his second top 10 and first podium finish of the season. Molinari has made just six cuts in 14 starts this season, but he also finished T-8 at the Betfred British Masters in May. The three-time European Tour winner hadn’t had a top 10 since 2019 and last visited the winner’s circle in 2017 at the Trophee Hassan II, which ended a seven-year drought. In eight previous starts at the BMW International, Molinari has made four straight cuts dating back to 2016. In 2019, the last time the event was staged, he finished T-3 thanks to a 4-under 32 on the back nine during his final round en route to a 67 and missed out on the playoff (won by fellow Italian Andrea Pavan) by two shots.

The Italian joins his brother, Francesco, in the field this week. They are one of two brother pairings to tee it up at Torrey Pines (Alvaro and Carlos Ortiz). Both of the Molinari brothers had an early tee time this morning and are both currently inside of the top 10 on the live leaderboard. For Edoardo, his round was guided by the putter. He was right around field average with 7-of-14 fairways hit and 10 greens landed in regulation. From there, he gained 2.23 strokes with the flat stick. Highlights included a five-pack of putts converted from outside of 10 feet with two of them landing from outside of 23 feet. He also holed out from the greenside bunker at the par-4 10th for another bonus birdie. Molinari posted a runner-up finish two weeks ago at the Porsche European Open and he’s still riding that wave of momentum through 18 holes at Torrey Pines. The Italian is playing in his fourth U.S. Open with an MC, T47, and T54 in his three previous attempts.

The 40-year-old Molinari finished eighth in the standings for European Tour qualifying for the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. This week’s stop in Germany was the third of three tournaments that made up a qualifying series based on aggregate Race to Dubai points, with the top 10 (not otherwise exempt) earning spots. The Hamburg event was shortened to 54 holes and changed to June 5-7 due to pandemic travel restrictions. Molinari earned his first start in a major since the 2015 Open Championship at St. Andrews, where he missed the cut. Molinari has made just five cuts in 13 starts this season, but he also finished T-8 at the Betfred British Masters at the start of the qualifying series to put himself in prime position. The three-time European Tour winner hadn’t had a top 10 since 2019 and last visited the winner’s circle in 2017 at the Trophee Hassan II, which ended a seven-year drought. Molinari has made two previous starts in the U.S. Open, finishing T-54 in 2011 and T-47 in 2010.

The 40-year-old Molinari finished T-8 at the Betfred British Masters to put himself in prime position in the standings for European Tour qualifying for the U.S. Open. This week’s stop in Denmark is the second of three tournaments that make up a qualifying series based on aggregate Race to Dubai points, with the top 10 (not otherwise exempt) earning spots. Molinari is aiming for his first start in a major since the 2015 Open Championship at St. Andrews, where he missed the cut. Molinari has made just four cuts in 11 starts this season but he’s 3-for-3 in his last three starts. He’s got a decent record in five previous starts at HimmerLand Resort, his missed the cut just once and his best finish is a T-26 in 2016. He was T-41 in his most recent start in 2019. The three-time European Tour winner hasn’t had a top 10 since 2019 (T-3 at BMW International Open, T-9 at Irish Open) and last visited the winner’s circle in 2017 at the Trophee Hassan II, ending a seven-year drought. The U.S. Open qualifying series finishes up with next week’s Porsche European Open in Hamburg, Germany.

The 40-year-old Molinari made just his second cut in nine starts this season at last week’s Tenerife Open, keeping pace through three rounds of 69-65-66 before falling 17 places with a final-round 72. His other made cut came in January at the Dubai Desert Classic where he finished 66th. Molinari, a three-time European Tour winner, made eight of 17 cuts and hasn’t had a top 10 since 2019 when he recorded a T-3 at the BMW International Open and a T-9 at the Irish Open. The last time Molinari visited the winner’s circle was at the 2017 Trophee Hassan II, which ended a seven year drought between victories.

The Italian has pegged it up in the South African event seven times previously, making just two cuts. However, they were tied 15th in 2009 and tied 28th in 2007 so he’s capable of performing here. Talking about his decision to keep the motor running after a busy 2019 season, Molinari said: “I didn’t have a break this winter because I feel like I’m playing well. I felt like last year that I played better than my scores suggested. I’ve worked on my putting for the last month or so while I was home and I feel like I’ve turned the corner with my putting. So I feel like I can compete any week now.” We last saw him post T38 in the Turkish Airlines Open where he opened with a pair of 68s and was ranked 1st for Driving Accuracy. Molinari could certainly be a handy option at a value price this week.

It says much about where the Italian’s career has been over the last few years that he has made so few starts in this tournament. Indeed, in three of the last five seasons he has failed to save his card and so, at 80th in the rankings, he needs a good week to stay playing this season, but if he did have one he could better the 74th of 2017 which is his best year since 2014. He played Montgomerie Maxx Royal that year and finished T39, his only other start in the tournament was T56 at Carya two years ago. However he hasn’t made a top 20 since the Czech Masters in mid-August.

There are many contrasts between the Molinari brothers, but their records at this course are an intriguing one. Francesco is 11-for-13 with eight top 20s and three second-placed finishes. Edoardo? 5-for-9 with a best of T35. It’s quite a distinction. In fact, although Le Golf is not a course that demands low scoring, it is quite concerning that Edoardo has gone sub-70 just three times in his 28 laps. His form is a little better than that however. He is on a run of 13-for-16, although he hasn’t had a top ten since the Irish Open. Nonetheless at 73rd in the Race to Dubai his thoughts are up (and of making the DP World Tour Championship) rather than down.

With Friday’s play coming to a close, the Italian holds a two-shot advantage over former winner Thomas Pieters. Robert Karlsson had posted the clubhouse lead of 9-under this morning but Molinari matched that after ten holes today after red numbers at 1, 4 and 10. Further gains at 14, 15 and 18 gave him daylight at the top. He’s hit the front despite playing the par 5s in just 3-under so, in theory, there is more in the tank. With two top tens in his last four starts (T26 and T34 in the other two), a performance like this had been coming. Molinari, despite having three European Tour wins to his name, has never held a halfway lead at this level. However, he topped the board after 36 holes on five occasions at Challenge Tour level (all in 2009) and emerged with three wins and two second places so he’s been an excellent frontrunner in the past.