Italian professional golfer
Edoardo Molinari
(born 11 February 1981) is an Italian
professional golfer
who plays on the European Tour, where he is a three-time winner. He was also the 2005
U.S. Amateur
champion; 2009
Challenge Tour
Rankings leader; winner, with his brother
Francesco
, of the 2009
World Cup
; and a member of the 2010 European
Ryder Cup
winning team. He has won professional tournaments on four of the six continents on which golf is played: Europe, South America, Africa and Asia. He is a Vice-Captain for the 2023 Ryder Cup in Marco Simone, Italy.
Background
[
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]
Molinari was born in
Turin
to Micaela, a now retired architect, and Paolo Molinari, a dentist. He began to accompany his father to the golf course at age eight. Molinari speaks fluent English and Spanish in addition to Italian.
[2]
In spring 2012, he married his longtime girlfriend, Anna Roscio, at a church ceremony in Turin. Roscio caddied for Molinari at the 2010
Masters Par-3 Tournament
.
[3]
Denis Pugh, of London, serves as a swing coach to both Molinari brothers. He postponed retirement to work with the Molinari brothers, and he helped to rebuild Edoardo's swing, moving from hitting predominantly draws to fading the ball.
[2]
Molinari is nicknamed "Dodo" because his younger brother, Francesco, could not pronounce "Edoardo" as a child.
[2]
He continues to live in Turin and to represent his home club, Circolo Golf Torino. His interests include the
Juventus
Football (soccer) club and the Internet.
[4]
He is considered one of the most emotional players on the European Tour and one of the most attractive players on the tour.
[5]
He is also considered very popular with his fellow competitors on tour, many of whom advocated his selection to the 2010 European
Ryder Cup
team.
[6]
Molinari is now working with Irish caddie Colin Byrne, who has earned 20 wins with other golfers such as South African major champion
Retief Goosen
.
[7]
Amateur career
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During a distinguished amateur career, Molinari won several national championships. The undisputed highlight of his amateur career came in 2005, when he became the first Italian and the first Continental European to win the
U.S. Amateur
. He claimed the title by holing a 25-foot birdie putt on the 33rd hole to win 4 & 3 over the American
Dillon Dougherty
.
[8]
As a result of that victory, Molinari qualified to play in the 2006
U.S. Masters
,
U.S. Open
and
The Open Championship
.
[9]
His younger brother
Francesco
, who is also a professional golfer, caddied for him at that year's Masters.
Professional career
[
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]
Molinari turned professional in 2006, after graduating from the
Polytechnic University of Turin
with a degree in engineering. In 2007 he won the
Club Colombia Masters
and the
Tusker Kenya Open
on Europe's developmental
Challenge Tour
.
[10]
The two victories and his consistent play led to a 16th-place finish on the season-long money list. That success enabled him to play on the top level
European Tour
during the 2008 season. Molinari's play was uneven during that season due to a wrist injury, and he was unable to retain his playing privileges in 2009.
[11]
2009
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Molinari returned to the Challenge Tour in 2009, where he was again successful, earning his third professional title at the
Piemonte Open
in May, in his home town of Turin. He also won the
Kazakhstan Open
in September and the
Italian Federation Cup
in October. He also came 2nd in the
Club Colombia Masters
, the
Scottish Hydro Challenge
, the
Trophee du Golf de Geneve
and the
ECCO Tour Championship
.
[11]
He topped the Challenge Tour money list in 2009 with record earnings of €242,979, almost €100,000 more than the previous high total.
On 22 November 2009, Molinari won the highly regarded
Dunlop Phoenix Tournament
in Miyazaki by defeating 2008
European Tour Order of Merit
winner
Robert Karlsson
of Sweden by sinking a four-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole after the two tied in regulation play. Molinari was the first Italian winner on the Japan Golf Tour.
[12]
On 29 November 2009, Molinari partnered with his younger brother Francesco to lead Italy to their first
World Cup
win at the Omega Mission Hills World Cup outside Shanghai, China. Edoardo leapt joyously around the 18th green after sinking the winning putt. This was the first win in the event by brothers and the first Italian victory in the event, generating significant coverage in the Molinari brothers' homeland.
[13]
During 2009, Molinari's
Official World Golf Ranking
rose from 753 to 48.
[14]
2010
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On 29 March 2010, Molinari earned his best finish on the U.S.
PGA Tour
, finishing second by two shots to South African
Ernie Els
at the
Arnold Palmer Invitational
and earning his then largest check of $528,000US.
[15]
Molinari holed a 50-foot putt on the 17th hole of the final round that was selected as "Shot of the Day" by NBC, the US network covering the tournament.
[16]
On 11 July 2010, Molinari won his first European Tour tournament, claiming the
Barclays Scottish Open
at
Loch Lomond
by three strokes over
Darren Clarke
.
[17]
Francesco Molinari
played alongside his brother and Clarke in the final threesome. Following Franceso's win in the 2006 Italian Open, Edoardo's victory in Scotland made the pair the third brothers to win on the European Tour after
Seve
and
Manuel Ballesteros
and
Antonio
and
German Garrido
.
[18]
On 29 August 2010, Molinari won his second European Tour title, the
Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles
, by one stroke from Australian
Brett Rumford
, after birdieing the final three holes. Molinari's brother Francesco once again was paired with the eventual champion in the final round.
[19]
Shortly afterwards, European
Ryder Cup
captain
Colin Montgomerie
named Molinari as one of his three "wild card" selections for the
2010 matches
at
Celtic Manor
in
Wales
, along with
Padraig Harrington
and
Luke Donald
.
[20]
Molinari's brother Francesco also earned a place on the European team through the points list. The Molinaris were the first brothers to compete together in a Ryder Cup side since
Bernard
and
Geoffrey Hunt
played for the Great Britain and Ireland side in
1963
.
[21]
Molinari's successful 2010 campaign saw him rise to a career-high of fourteenth in the
Official World Golf Ranking
.
[22]
Molinari finished the 2010 season ranked 11th on the Race to Dubai, formerly known as the European Tour Order of Merit. He finished the year ranked 18th in the world.
[23]
2011
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Molinari spent the first half of the year racking up middle of the pack finishes, with an 11th-place finish at Augusta as his lone highlight. He noted that "I know my progress this season has not been so good, but the time that I have spent on the PGA Tour in America has been a positive experience" in an essay he wrote as a special Open Championship correspondent for
The Independent
.
[24]
Molinari finished the 2011 season ranked 46 on the Race to Dubai with earnings of 686,391 Euros from 21 events. A quarter of his earnings came through his season best finish of fifth at the
Barclays Singapore Open
.
[25]
Molinari fell out of the world ranking top 50 by the end of the season.
2012
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An old injury to Molinari's left wrist led to tendonitis and ultimately required tendon surgery in June. His 2012 campaign was interrupted by a three-month layoff with Molinari returning to action at the
BMW Italian Open
in September. He achieved only one top-10 finish on the European Tour, sixth at the
Trophee Hassan II
, and qualified for only one major, the
Masters Tournament
. Molinari dropped to 86th on the 2012
Race to Dubai
with earnings of 280,976 Euros from 17 events. He fell out of the top 200 of the Official World Golf Ranking, as well. Molinari set a goal of fully rehabilitating his left wrist for the 2013 season.
2013
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Molinari started the
2013 European Tour
season with a series of missed cuts, but on 24 March, he obtained a strong second place at the
Maybank Malaysian Open
. The prize won (233,604 Euros) allowed him to enter the Race to Dubai ranked 29th. Scoring a solid 68 (4 under par) in the final round, Molinari finished the
Open de Espana
tied for 27th position. At the
2013 BMW PGA Championship
, won by his countrymate
Matteo Manassero
, Molinari finished T19 with two consecutive birdies on the 71st and 72nd holes. He had to withdraw from the
BMW International Open
and the
Irish Open
for persistent pain in his left thumb.
2014
[
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In November 2013, after recovering from a new surgery, Molinari began his
2014 European Tour
comeback campaign in South Africa where he ended T52 at the
South African Open Championship
. He made his first cut since the
BMW PGA Championship
played in May 2013. At the
Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship
on 19 January 2014, he finished T28 after four consecutive under-par rounds (70-71-71-71) which earned him a final score of ?5. He earned him his first top-10 of the season at the
Omega Dubai Desert Classic
(T9) and moved to 64th place in the
Race to Dubai
rankings. After that, he had a good period of form with three consecutive cuts made at the
Joburg Open
(T37) and
Tshwane Open
(T10) in South Africa and at the
Trophee Hassan II
(T25) in Morocco, respectively. During the next following months he played in a very consistent fashion, with multiple cuts made in a row, a period culminating in a second place at the
Irish Open
behind
Mikko Ilonen
of Finland and in his best finish so far (T7) at
The Open Championship
. Another solid display at the
Wales Open
, where he finished T4, gave him a total of 787.855 Euros. He ended the Race to Dubai in 40th place and won a total of €915,070, the second best
European Tour
final position and prize of his career to date.
2015
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Molinari started reasonably well his
2015 European Tour
campaign with 6 cuts made out of 8 participations, with the highest position he occupied represented by his T15 finish at the
Tshwane Open
; however a slump of form in the final part of the season, with eight consecutive missed cuts, cost him his European Tour card. In November 2015 he promptly regained his European Tour membership with a 24th place at the
2015 European Tour Qualifying School
.
2016
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His
2016 European Tour
campaign was not particularly brilliant (only 13 cuts made out of 27 participations) and at the end of season he found himself in 148th position (prize won 132,580 Euros) in the
Race to Dubai
rankings, losing again his European Tour card. However, for a second consecutive year he was able to promptly regain his European Tour membership with a T2 place at the
2016 European Tour Qualifying School
.
Amateur wins
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- 1996 English Boys Under 16 Championship (
McGregor Trophy
)
- 2001 Italian Amateur Championship
- 2002 Italian Amateur Foursomes Championship (with
Francesco Molinari
)
- 2003 Turkish Amateur Open Championship
- 2004 Italian Amateur Foursomes Championship (with Francesco Molinari)
- 2005
U.S. Amateur
Professional wins (10)
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European Tour wins (3)
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European Tour playoff record (1?0)
Japan Golf Tour wins (1)
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Japan Golf Tour playoff record (1?0)
Challenge Tour wins (5)
[
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]
1
Co-sanctioned by the
Tour de las Americas
Challenge Tour playoff record (1?0)
Other wins (1)
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Results in major championships
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Results not in chronological order in 2020.
Top 10
Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament due to
COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
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- Most consecutive cuts made ? 10 (2010 U.S. Open ? 2014 PGA)
- Longest streak of top-10s ? 1 (2014 Open Championship)
Results in The Players Championship
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CUT = missed the halfway cut
Results in World Golf Championships
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Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
Team appearances
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Amateur
Professional
Ryder Cup points record
See also
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References
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External links
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- † indicates the event was won in extra holes.
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