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ORLANDO — Outwardly at least, the Francesco Molinari who arrived at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Tuesday was the same guy who left with the trophy a year ago. Same low-key demeanor. Same squat, college wrestler’s body. Same diligent work ethic. Only his results betray the fact that much has changed.
His victory 12 months ago, thanks to a scintillating final-round 64, was the culmination of a run of form that had seen the Italian claim the European Tour’s flagship BMW PGA Championship and the Quicken Loans National on the PGA Tour, before winning his first major at the Open Championship, fending off charges from Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
Then came the Masters.
At 12:47 p.m. on that Sunday afternoon last April, Molinari stood on Augusta National’s 12th tee with a two-stroke lead. In a swirling wind, his tee shot drowned in Rae’s Creek, leading to a double bogey. He finished tied for fifth, two shots back of Woods.
Since then the Italian stallion has looked more like a wheezy pack mule: 18 worldwide starts, zero top 10s and five missed cuts, including in three of his four events in 2020. A year ago he was No. 7 in the world. Today he’s ranked 26th.
He has not been the same player since that day in Georgia, raising the question of whether that one swing has lingered. “It hasn’t,” said his coach Denis Pugh. “Because if I sensed it did then I would have chatted about it with him.”
Pugh suggests it’s a different major last year that holds the key to Molinari’s struggles. In May’s PGA Championship at Bethpage Black, he was paired for two days with Woods and the eventual winner Brooks Koepka, after which he realized that he could not consistently summon power and accuracy in the same swing. After a lengthy break at year’s end, Molinari and his coach set about fixing that. “It’s a slow grind build-up,” Pugh said. “It’s being patient.”
Molinari echoed that sentiment. “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,” he said. “I think I’ve got some good planning for the next few weeks building up to Augusta and some good direction to work towards.”
Even as he works towards Masters ’20, Molinari finds himself still fielding numerous questions about Masters ’19. He spent ample time Tuesday discussing the vagaries of the wind at Augusta National’s perilous little 12th: “Well, if there’s no wind, you know… there’s nothing really that can stop you from hitting that green… You never know how much wind actually it’s going to get… I think it depends on the direction… If it comes from a certain direction it can funnel in the trees and then that’s when it gets really hard… It’s more the wind direction specifically on that hole that makes it tricky… Depends on the exact moment when you’re hitting the shot…”
“It’s just complicated,” he finally offered.
One thing that has helped push thoughts of that Masters mishap to the back of his mind is the coronavirus panic. Last week his older brother Edoardo withdrew from a tournament in Oman amid fears another Italian golfer he was sharing a hotel room with was symptomatic. Both were tested and given an all-clear, and were eventually reinstated in the tournament. The younger Molinari admits to initially seeing humor in the situation.
“I was laughing, actually. If you know my brother, of all people, for it to happen to him,” he said. “Joking aside, obviously being Italian it’s not a great time back home with the health situation.”
Molinari lives in London, but his parents remain at the family home in Turin, a city in northern Italy badly impacted by the virus. Schools have been closed and football games canceled. “They’re not the youngest anymore, so it’s a bit worrying from that point of view,” Molinari admitted. “I speak to them pretty much on a daily basis and they’re fine. There’s nothing too worrying at the moment.”
All of which puts his on-course form into perspective, even as he hopes to find progress at an event where he has finished in the top 10 four times in seven starts. “I try to be honest with myself. 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,” he said. “I wouldn’t say I’m particularly close right now. 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.”
And presumably not thinking too far behind himself either.
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