PGA Tour professional and 2019 Arnold Palmer Invitational winner Francesco Molinari speaks with the media prior to beginning his 2020 title defense at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
PGA Tour: Francesco Molinari addresses the media ahead of the Arnold Palmer Invitational
JOHN BUSH: We would like to get started with Francesco Molinari, our 2019 champion of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard.
Francesco, first of all, if we can get you to take us back to your win last year, including a sensational 8-under, 64 in the final round. If we can get a few comments, please.
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, obviously most of the memories are from the Sunday. Just an amazing round, probably one of the best rounds I’ve played in my career. I remember, yes, starting the day thinking there was maybe half a chance, but I was quite a long way back and with a few guys in between me and the lead. So you obviously hope for a good day but you can’t really know how it’s going to pan out.
And then, yeah, just played an incredible round, played well, putted really well, and obviously finished it off with that putt on 18 that I think will always be one of the highlights of my career.
JOHN BUSH: You have four top-10 finishes in seven starts here. What is it about Bay Hill that you like so much?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I can’t really point one single thing. I think if you ask a lot of the guys out there they are going to tell you that it’s more of a bomber’s course, but I seem to like it pretty much from the first time I came. I don’t know, maybe part of it has to do with the fact that I was watching it on TV when I was growing up and obviously, like I said many times, in Italy the exposure to golf was limited and Mr. Palmer and Mr. Nicklaus were two obviously of the few figures that reached all the way out to Italy and they were really mythological figures. So to come here and to play in Arnie’s tournament has always been special to me and it’s always been a week that I’ve enjoyed a lot and I obviously still do.
JOHN BUSH: And before questions, just talk a little bit about the state of your game coming into the week.
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, I’m a little bit behind where I was planning to be, obviously, at this time. The start of the season has not been as good as I hoped for, but it’s only the start. There’s been a few physical things and technical things, but I’m working through it. I think I’ve got some good planning for the next few weeks building up to Augusta and some good direction to work towards. And, yeah, just looking forward to being out, play 18 a day and hopefully getting sharper day by day.
JOHN BUSH: All right. Let’s start with questions.
Q. Do you feel close to where you need to be and if you don’t, when there were times where you felt far away, were you honest with yourself?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I try to be honest with myself. I think in golf it’s never too easy because there’s a part of you that always makes you think you’re close even when you’re not. I wouldn’t say I’m particularly close right now. I would be, my expectations going into the next few weeks are really to build up some momentum and get better day by day and not really thinking too far ahead of myself. There’s work that I need to do to be physically better and fitter than I am right now and technically to be sharper. So that’s the plan for the next few weeks. But not always results in golf are directly linked to where you are exactly in a certain moment. So results might come earlier than I think, but the plan is still no matter what the results are going to be, to work hard the next month and get better.
Q. Have you had a chance to talk with Edoardo since last week and what was your reaction when you found out he had been quarantined?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I was laughing, actually. If you know my brother, of all people, for it to happen to him, I don’t know, yeah, I just found it a little bit funny at the beginning. But then, obviously, I spoke to him and he was, I would say, more annoyed than scared because he was feeling well. He had no symptoms. But, yeah, joking aside, obviously being Italian it’s not a great time back home with the health situation and I don’t know, hopefully they can get it sorted somehow quickly.
Q. Going back to last year here, is it possible to assess like just how well you played that final round and how, I mean, how would you grade your game? Was it maybe as good as it’s ever been in that last round? And was it a total, just a total performance in that every part of the game was working?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, it was, like I said, one of the best rounds of my career, probably. Like I said, when I finished last year, the putting was particularly good. I hit the ball obviously well enough to shoot 64 but it probably wasn’t my best ever round tee to green. But, yeah, in general an amazing round. Conditions were tricky already on the Saturday, I remember, and then Sunday was the same. So I think this is a course that if it firms up and it gets a bit breezy, it’s a really tough test of golf and you can still, obviously, shoot 64 and 65, but you need to do a lot of things well to do that.
Q. Having won this event and Tiger’s former event and so forth, discussions the last few days about the PGA TOUR versus the European Tour, the difficulty of winning, I’m just curious if you buy into any of that —
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I don’t think I should get into that. It’s golf, you know, it’s never easy to win in golf wherever you play. That’s all I’m going to say.
Q. Following up from earlier, so for you personally and just golfers in general, what is this coronavirus, is it going to, do you think potentially impede on people’s travel schedules, the way they kind of plan going forward?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I know as much as you, if not less, to be honest. We just follow, obviously, the directions that we’re given by the TOUR. So far, luckily, it doesn’t seem to have an impact on us directly. But, yeah, like I said, the first person — I wasn’t in Italy last week — but I was obviously reading the news and they cancelled football games, soccer games, which are huge over there and closed school, so it’s definitely having an impact there. Hopefully it won’t get to that stage over here.
Q. Just like Sungjae addressed it in his post-win, I mean he talked about how he hopes this emboldens his home, his people back home, because it’s such an issue. Do you — is it front of mind in some ways for you because of what’s going on in your home country?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, yes and no. Obviously, I got my parents in Turin, which is one of the areas where they closed schools and cancelled soccer games, and they’re not the youngest anymore, so it’s a bit worrying from that point of view, but then I spoke to them, I speak to them pretty much on a daily basis and they’re fine. There’s nothing too worrying at the moment. So it’s, obviously, trying to keeping the virus contained and it’s just, I guess, a matter of time to see if the policies that they have put in place will have a big enough affect. Hopefully they will.
Q. The 16th hole is often pivotal in the outcome of the tournament, especially going down the stretch on Sunday. Can you talk about your memories about that hole from last year? And as the Aon Risk Reward hole for this week, what are the keys for you for success on that hole?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, the memories from Sunday last year are playing the hole very well. I hit pretty much a perfect drive and a really good aggressive second shot over the flag and nearly made the eagle putt.
I think compared to some other holes that we played during the year in the Aon Risk Reward, 16 is in a way more straightforward because it’s just about hitting a good driver. And then I think 99 percent of the field will go for it from the fairway, because you have enough room and you have a good chance of making eagle. So, yeah, the strategy there for me is to be aggressive, obviously, as long as you are on the fairway off the tee.
Q. You spoke earlier of the physical and technical aspect of golf. How about the mental energies? You did speak about that after the Masters. How long does that take you to get back to where you were after a back nine where you had such a great tournament and then some problems on the back nine?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Obviously, I don’t know, I have a different maybe point of view from many people, but I think that the mental side has been one of the strongest points in the last few months. It’s just more being more down to the fact that I haven’t hit the ball as well and like I said, especially these first few weeks this year, I let a few niggles here and there and not been able to train and to get fitter and stronger. So I think mentally I’m ready to go. I’m in a good place and ready to compete. But obviously, I think that’s kind of the last stage. You need to have your best game and to be physically a hundred percent to be able to compete.
Q. Given what you shared earlier about your win last year and the fact that you were able to be in the presence of people like Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, those whom you considered mythological before and you had the opportunity to be here in the presence last year, have you lost that sense of wonder? Is it still — it’s still an amazing experience for you to be back here in 2020. Despite the condition of your game right now, is there still a sense of wonder for you being here?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, we’re lucky to play in great tournaments week-in and week-out, but there are certain tournaments that to each one of us are special. And like I was saying before, definitely every time I come back here or I play Memorial and I have a chance to see and to speak with Mr. Nicklaus, it’s just people that they have obviously achieved so much in the game of golf but most of all for the game of golf, that it’s just fascinating. And then, obviously, in the past few years I had a chance to have a few chats with Mr. Palmer and, yeah, he was just a fascinating character. And I think I said this last year after winning, especially for someone like me coming from a very small golfing country like Italy is and was when I was growing up, I would have never believed I would have had the chance to speak to Mr. Palmer. So it’s always special coming back here, yeah.
Q. A Masters question, I apologize. But it seems like the 12th hole is where everything kind of turned last year on Sunday. What do you remember about that hole and why was it playing so difficult? It played as the hardest hole last year on Sunday.
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I think it was just the wind, you know, the weather conditions of the day made it really hard to judge the shot in terms of how far it was playing. And then, obviously, it’s a hole where when the flag is in that position, back right, it’s by far the toughest position on the green. So it’s a combination of that, and then obviously the situation too, you know, you get there, it’s Sunday afternoon, so I think a few of us hit in the water that day and, yeah, it’s just how, it shows how tough it was playing. But that’s the beauty of the Masters and Amen Corner and it’s a special tournament and you could see that last year on Sunday. And like I said, I think that the weather conditions made those last few holes even more tricky and special for someone who was watching on TV.
Q. Two things: Can you remember the calmest you’ve ever played No. 12, calmest conditions, and how much easier, if any, did it make it?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Calmest in terms of —
Q. In terms of wind.
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: — conditions?
Q. Yeah.
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Well, if there’s no wind, you know, it just depends if you hit a good shot. There’s nothing really that can stop you from hitting that green. But I think, I remember like the Saturday last year, I think I hit it a few inches from the hole with obviously a different pin position. But, yeah, like I said, that Sunday, when the wind is up and I think especially it was coming kind of into, from behind the green and those huge trees behind the green, so you never know how much wind actually it’s going to get. And it’s just complicated.
Q. Let me ask it a different way. How much wind is required for it to mess with your head?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I think it depends on the direction, like I said, because it can, if it comes from a certain direction it can funnel in the trees and then that’s when it gets really hard. Because you might look at north, south, west, east on your yardage book and think it should be coming from one way and you see the flag blowing the opposite way and then it’s really hard to make a call and an adjustment.
But, yeah, so I don’t think it needs a lot of wind, it’s more the wind direction specifically on that hole that makes it tricky. If it’s playing downwind usually the wind is the same on the tee and on the green. When it’s coming the other direction, it just funnels in the trees and depends on the exact moment when you’re hitting the shot.
Q. The other thing I wanted to ask you, have you been approached by the folks from the Premier Golf League?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: No.
Q. Your general thoughts on it and is there any interest?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: No, I haven’t been approached, so.
Q. Is that insulting?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: No, not really, no. I’m happy to do my own thing, again, not get involved. I think there’s going to be bigger names that will have to make that decision. But I don’t know, I kind of agree with what Rory said, to be honest, we, I’m sure we can find ways to make this TOUR and the European Tour even better, but we’re lucky to play some amazing schedules, so I don’t see why really messing up with it too much.
JOHN BUSH: We appreciate your time Francesco, best of luck this week.
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Thank you.
Orlando, Florida
March 3, 2020
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