Edoardo Molinari – Syndication Server

Viktor Hovland’s alternative route at Riviera’s 15th remains in play this week despite serious discussion to install internal OB

“You’d have to be asleep at the wheel to not know that the scoreboard has been placed in that gap.”

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Viktor Hovland’s alternate route to play the 474-yard par-4 15^th hole at Riviera Country Club down the 17^th hole will remain an option – a risky one at that over an electronic scoreboard meant to discourage players – after the PGA Tour considered installing internal out of bounds as a local rule this week but opted against it.

Instead of a power fade to turn the corner of the doglegged fairway and avoid the fairway bunker, Hovland for the past few years has been the most high-profile player opting to play down the 17^th hole, which runs to the right of it. It’s a move he originally attempted playing at Riviera in the 2017 U.S. Amateur at the suggestion of his former Oklahoma State teammate Zach Bauchou.

When asked in 2022 if it was his game plan to play the hole in this manner regardless of the flag position, Hovland said, “I think so. … It’s a no brainer.”

Yes, he's at it again. https://t.co/twSPAhUGxI

— Rick Gehman (@RickRunGood) February 14, 2024

Hovland also told Golfweek that his stats maven, DP World Tour pro Edoardo Molinari, advised him that was the best plan of attack for the hole.

“The main reasons to go down 17 is that you take out the right fairway bunker on 15 and you have a wider fairway to hit. It also makes the hole slightly shorter,” Molinari explained in an email.

The tournament’s rules committee, which is headed by Tour rules official Steve Rintoul, this week’s chief referee, spent considerable time on Tuesday and Wednesday considering whether to install internal out-of-bounds down the entire right side of the hole. The primary reasons to do so centered on safety concern for volunteer marshals and fans watching/walking on 17 being in the line of fire, and in part to protect the architectural integrity of the hole designed by architects George C. Thomas Jr., and Billy Bell, which they never dreamed to be played in this style.

Internal OB has been instituted in recent years to avoid a shortcut down the left side of the 18^th hole at Waialae Country Club during the Sony Open in Hawaii, at No. 18 at TPC Sawgrass during the Players Championship, two separate spots at the upcoming Cognizant Classic at PGA National, not to mention at the first hole at Royal Portrush during the 2019 British Open to Rory McIlroy’s everlasting dismay.

“What if a guy tries to play the hole the right way and he’s behind a tree and his only play is to go sideways to 17? We’re taking that option away from that player. There were scenarios that didn’t sit well with us,” Rintoul told Golfweek in a phone interview Wednesday. “To do internal out of bounds at a revered place like Riviera for maybe one or two guys going that way isn’t a prudent thing to do.”

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The option to play down No. 17 exists because eucalyptus trees that used to block that route have died in recent years. The Tour filled the gap with an electronic board to discourage players from taking the route.

“There was a necessity for a scoreboard on that hole but you’d have to be asleep at the wheel to not know that the scoreboard has been placed in that gap,” Rintoul said. “We’re not naïve. But there’s good reason for it.”

Matt Fitzpatrick, who is another player who uses Molinari as a stats/strategy adviser, played his tee shot down 17 during his practice round but didn’t plan to go that way in the tournament.

“I didn’t particularly like the look of it,” he said. “It’s blind for the second shot if you don’t get far enough down.”

He also pointed out that the electronic scoreboard, which is meant to obstruct the view, had been raised between his practice round on Tuesday and his pro-am round on Wednesday and that the risk of hitting the board would prevent players from taking the alternative route.

“They raised it and put a flag or something on top of it to really mess with you,” Fitzpatrick said. “I think it’s ridiculous that they’ve done that.”

Matt Fitzpatrick of England chips on the fourth green during the Pro-Am prior to The Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on February 14, 2024 in Pacific Palisades, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Rintoul confirmed that the scoreboards had been raised but not in a malicious attempt to cut off the route. He pointed out that the boards are positioned at ground level every week and then raised before spectators are permitted on the course. They were lifted four inches ahead of the pro-am round.

Rintoul noted that according to ShotLink data only Hovland and Taylor Montgomery among this week’s 70-man field have opted to play down No. 17 in the past. Players would be advised to have their caddie forecaddie on this hole should they take the alternative route.

“If there was nothing in that gap, we could have a third of the field play that way,” Rintoul said. “That would force our hand with internal out of bounds.”

Adding to the intrigue of taking the alternative route is the fact that the 15^th green, which Geoff Shackelford of The Quadrilateral describes as “one of the largest and most artfully constructed greens by Thomas and Bell,” underwent minor renovation since last year’s tournament that flattened the back right of the green. As a result, there’s an additional right-hand hole location on the green this week.

“I believe those flags (on the right side of the green) would be easiest to access from the 17^th hole,” Rintoul said.

The long-term fix seems obvious: to add two large eucalyptus trees. It’s been discussed but it’s an expensive proposition that needs to be budgeted for in the future. For now, Hovland and potentially other players will continue to go bombs away down the 17^th hole and the Tour will closely monitor the situation.

Stat man Edoardo Molinari is Europe’s secret weapon in Rome at Ryder Cup 2023

An engineer by trade, Molinari’s keen use of stats has made him a trailblazer.

Viktor Hovland finally bagged a PGA Tour win at one of the biggest events this season. And then some.

Hovland has won in each of the last four seasons on Tour, but fellow pro Edoardo Molinari, who doubles as Hovland’s performance coach, noted that his previous wins shared something in common.

Indeed, all of his Tour wins before 2023 had been on tropical islands: in Puerto Rico and twice in Mexico near Cancun, plus two more unofficial titles in The Bahamas. It’s ironic given that Hovland grew up in the cold of Norway.

“Sometimes I tease him that it’s about time he wins on a serious golf course, not at a tourist place,” Molinari said.

Muirfield Village Golf Club, the course Jack Nicklaus built near his childhood home in Dublin, Ohio, and annual host of the Memorial, certainly qualifies as “a serious course.” As does Olympia Fields, a former major championship site near Chicago where Hovland shot a final-round 61 to win the BMW Championship in August. The same goes for East Lake in Atlanta, where Hovland ran away with the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup Playoffs title, his second win in two weeks.

What made the Memorial victory special for Hovland was the way he won: without his best stuff from tee to green but with a short game that has made great strides and a putter that continually bailed him out.

He also credited his improved course management. Two years ago he played a practice round at the U.S. Open with Molinari, the brother of 2018 British Open winner Francesco, and a week later Hovland implemented some of Edoardo’s tips at the DP World Tour’s BMW International in Germany and won the tournament.

“I was impressed with the way his mind worked,” said Hovland, who in a separate interview described him as “a genius when it comes to the stats.”

Number cruncher

Hovland hired Molinari, 42, to help with his strategy, and it has paid big dividends. Speaking ahead of his victory at Jack’s Place, Hovland noted that Molinari crunched his numbers and discovered that when Hovland attacked greens with pitching wedge and 8-iron, he was short-siding himself 30 percent of the time, above the Tour average of 20 percent.

“Because I’m a good iron player, it should be closer to 15 percent of the time if not less than that,” Hovland said. “I was putting too much pressure on my short game by being too aggressive.”

“It would be kind of a double whammy,” Hovland said at his winner’s press conference in June. “But this week I told myself that when I’m out of position, just play for the fatter part of the green and if I miss the green, I still have a shot where I can roll the ball up or slow the ball down enough to get it close to the pin.”

Imagine what Molinari can do for the other 11 players who, along with Hovland, will make up Team Europe at the Ryder Cup in Molinari’s native Italy.

Molinari, a former U.S. Amateur champion, three-time DP World Tour champion and European Ryder Cupper in 2010, is serving as a vice captain. An engineer by trade, Molinari’s keen use of stats has made him a trailblazer in the use of data analytics in golf. It also has led to the creation of a business that is helping some of the game’s top players learn their strengths and weaknesses, strategy and course management and how to practice more effectively. In addition to Hovland, the growing stable of students who rely on his data analytics include 2022 U.S. Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick and Thomas Pieters.

“He pops open his laptop after he plays and he’s got these Excel spreadsheets, and he works on it for hours and hours in the evening,” Pieters said of Molinari. “By the time he’s done, he’s identified everything I should work on whether it is 6- to 8-foot right-to-left putts or a certain yardage that I can improve in getting up-and-down with my wedges.”

When Sweden’s Henrik Stenson originally was named Europe’s captain last March, he called Molinari a week later and asked him how he would use data to analyze all the possibilities for making picks and pairings, then determining the best course setup. Stenson hired Molinari to handle those duties, replacing 21 Club, which specializes in sports intelligence and had been responsible for data analytics at the last three Ryder Cups for the European side. A month later they had discussions about the qualifying criteria, and Stenson asked Molinari to serve as one of his assistant captains.

But Stenson was stripped of his captaincy after he joined LIV Golf. When Donald was named as Stenson’s replacement in August 2022, he called Molinari the next day. Donald recounted how he had been shown what Molinari already had done for Stenson and was duly impressed. Donald asked Molinari to continue in that role.

In January, Molinari test-drove his methods at the Hero Cup in Dubai, a competition with one team representing Great Britain and Ireland and the other representing Continental Europe. He experimented with pairings and live stats.

“Some of the past (Ryder Cup) captains came to me and said this is so fantastic, this is going to be so helpful,” Molinari said.

Statistics have come a long way since Donald played on his first Ryder Cup in 2004, and it’s no surprise the former Northwestern golfer has made such math an important ingredient in his decision-making process. He was the first pro to ask Mark Broadie, a teacher at the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University since 1983 and the godfather of Strokes Gained – which allow a golfer to more effectively understand where he gained or lost ground on the leaderboard – for personalized evaluations of his performance stats. Shortly after Donald wrapped up the 2011 PGA Tour money title and reached World No. 1, he sent a thank-you note and a half-case of his signature-label red wine to Broadie.

Even before Broadie’s innovation, Molinari had tracked more traditional stats: fairways hit, greens in regulation, number of putts. Every year he’d crunch the numbers of some new category. When he heard of Broadie’s breakthrough, he sent him a blind e-mail asking if they could meet. They spent a few days in Orlando playing golf while Broadie trained Molinari on the ins and outs of Strokes Gained.

“I remember him saying he wasn’t sure the players or the public was going to like it, and I said, ‘Mark, this is revolutionary. You need to publish the whole thing.’ It changed the world of golf and data,” Molinari said.

Fitzpatrick was the first player to seek assistance from Molinari and still the player who is most devoted to Molinari’s data analytics approach. But Molinari’s number of disciples is growing by leaps and bounds through word of mouth.

“I thought some players might come to ask for it. I thought the maximum number of players I could manage was 10 players. I thought in three to four years if I had 10 players, I’d be happy,” Molinari said. “Within three months, we had 10 players signed up. I had to hire a guy part-time, hired another guy. Both are full-time now.”

During COVID-19, Molinari had time to rebuild his platform to track on-course performance, making it easier to enter data and manage players.

“We have 10 (clients) on the PGA Tour and another 20 on the DP World Tour, a couple of Champions Tour and LPGA,” Molinari said.

For the Ryder Cup, Molinari may be Europe’s secret weapon as it tries to extend its winning streak on home soil, which extends six matches and dates to 1993. Donald is fully on board that data analytics can give his team an edge.

“It’s a good way to judge how we should be setting up the golf course, it’s a good way to look at potential pairings, the strengths needed for Marco Simone,” Donald said. “(Molinari) has great expertise in this world. It’s invaluable, really.”

Just as it has been for Hovland in his rise to a top-5 player in the world. He compares his new-found focus on course management to the game of poker and placing smart bets depending on the hand he’s dealt.

“Anytime you can tilt math to your advantage, that can be huge,” Hovland said. “If you play blackjack, you’re going to lose to the house in the long run. But if you can count cards and make it profitable in the long run, why wouldn’t you?”

With Molinari’s help, Team Europe hopes to come up aces again.

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2023 PGA Championship: Viktor Hovland’s secret weapon is another tour pro, and he’s not alone

Matt Fitzpatrick, Thomas Pieters and Hovland all rely on data analytics from Edoardo Molinari.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Whether Viktor Hovland, who enters the final round trailing by one stroke, wins the Wanamaker Trophy or not this week at the 105^th PGA Championship at Oak Hill is still to be determined, but if he does so it may be due to his secret weapon: Edoardo Molinari.

That would be the older brother of British Open champion Francesco Molinari, a former U.S. Amateur champion, three-time DP World Tour champion and European Ryder Cupper, who is serving as an assistant captain later this year in his native Italy.

Molinari also is an engineer by trade and his keen use of stats made him a trailblazer in the use of data analytics in golf. It also has led to the creation of a business that is helping some of the game’s top players learn their strengths and weaknesses, strategy and course management and how to practice more effectively. Among his students who rely on his advanced data analytics are reigning U.S. Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick, Thomas Pieters and Hovland.

“Viktor’s potential is limitless,” Molinari said. “He’s very keen on the course management. I have regular conversations with Shay (Knight), his caddie, even on the day of the round. Viktor is a super-smart kid and he understands what he wants. Sometimes he’ll ask you a very specific question and then go away and work for a month and then can see the data changing and getting better.”

Edoardo Molinari Trophee Hassan II — Edoardo Molinari of Italy celebrates following his win at the 2019 Trophee Hassan II at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Rabat, Morocco. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

“I think Viktor realized that his course management was a weakness,” Molinari said. “His ballstriking is probably top 3 on Tour, especially when he’s playing well. He doesn’t miss a shot. It’s more like managing his few misses a little better sometimes playing a bit more aggressive off the tee because when he’s on he doesn’t really miss a fairway.”

Hovland, 25, won the 2018 U.S. Amateur, three times on the PGA Tour, played on Europe’s Ryder Cup team in 2021 and entered the week ranked 11^th in the world. At the last two majors, the Norewegian held the 54-hole lead at the British Open and played in the second-to-last group at the Masters in April, but faded from the picture.

When asked to explain why he hadn’t had more success at the majors yet, Hovland explained, “I think that’s been because I’ve just been a little bit young and stupid, just going after some pins that I’m not supposed to go for even though I’m feeling good about my ball-striking and it’s easy to just feel like, yeah, I’m going to take it right at it and make a birdie here. Then you hit a decent shot, and then you’re short-sided and make bogey or double, and you just can’t do that in major championship golf. You just have to wear out center of the green.”

Hovland, who also began working with swing instructor Joe Mayo this year, compared his new-found focus on course management to the game of poker and placing smart bets depending on the hand he’s dealt.

“Within strategy in poker, there’s certain frequencies, certain things should happen, so you bet at certain frequencies. Basically I was ending up plugged in the bunker short-sided a few more times than you would think,” he explained. “It seemed like it would happen once or twice a round or something like that where I would just be in a terrible spot and cannot make a par. So (Mayo) reached out to Edoardo, and we crunched some numbers and saw that I was just a little too aggressive with my shorter irons.”

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Fitzpatrick was the first player to seek assistance from Molinari and still remains the player who is most devoted to Molinari’s data analytics approach. But his number of disciples is growing by leaps and bounds through word of mouth.

“I thought some players might come to ask for it. I thought the maximum number of players I could manage was 10 players. I thought in 3-4 years if I had 10 players, I’d be happy. Within 3 months, we had 10 players signed up. I had to hire a guy part-time, hired another guy. Both are full-time now,” Molinari said. “We have 10 (clients) on the PGA Tour and another 20 on the DP World Tour, a couple of Champions tour and LPGA.”

South African pro Brandon Stone isn’t currently working with Molinari but he may have summed up best why so many players are knocking on the door of ‘The Stat Man’ and asking for help.

“You’re always looking for that 1 percent you can gain on everyone else,” Stone said. “(When I worked) with Eddie, I gained closer to 5 percent.”

Initially, Molinari’s company, Statistic Golf, provided only stats but he has since added course management and how to practice more effectively (Molinari isn’t the only skilled player to enter this burgeoning cottage industry; Golfweek chronicled the story of Hunter Stewart last year).

Fitzpatrick won the U.S. Open in June; one can only imagine what a second major in less than a year for one of Molinari’s clients would do for his business. Asked last month if Hovland’s game suited a particular major, Molinari said the U.S. Open or PGA Championship.

“It needs to be very difficult off the tee to serve him best. He’s one of the best drivers of the ball. If there is a weakness in his game, it is chipping from tight lies. But there’s a lot of grass around the green at those majors so it’s less of an issue,” he explained.

Hovland, who shot even-par 70 at Oak Hill on Saturday, will play in the final group on Sunday alongside leader Brooks Koepka. Hovland’s best result this season is a T-3 at the Players Championship in March and his last win was at the Hero World Challenge for the second straight year in the Bahamas in December. In fact, all of his Tour wins have been on tropical islands: in Puerto Rico and twice in Mexico near the resort town of Cancun. It’s ironic given he grew up in the cold of Norway.

“Sometimes I tease him that it’s about time he wins on a serious golf course, not at a tourist place,” Molinari said.

This slice of Western New York, where there was a frost delay on Thursday, has never been confused for a tropical locale and Oak Hill would most certainly qualify as “a serious golf course.”

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Rory McIlroy doesn’t want LIV Golf players on the Ryder Cup team, says European squad needs a rebuild

Tell us how you really feel, Rory.

There’s something inherently special about a national open, but it comes as no surprise that the attention this week at the 2022 Italian Open is more so focused on the future.

Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome plays host both to this week’s DP World Tour stop, as well as the 2023 Ryder Cup, September 29-October 1. A handful of hopefuls for Luke Donald’s European squad are in the field, including 2022 FedEx Cup champion Rory McIlroy, 2022 U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton, and local favorite and 2018 Italian Open winner Francesco Molinari.

Unlike at last week’s BMW PGA Championship, there’s a small presence of LIV Golf players in the field this week as most are competing at the series’ fifth event near Chicago, but that certainly didn’t keep McIlroy from fielding yet another question about the upstart circuit led by Greg Norman and backed by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

Italian Open: Leaderboard and tee times

“I have said it once I’ve said it a hundred times, I don’t think any of those guys should be on the Ryder Cup team,” McIlroy definitively said during a Wednesday press conference.

Donald is joined in the field by vice captains Thomas Bjorn and Edoardo Molinari, who will undoubtedly be scouting out players for their six selections for the 12-man team that will challenge the United States in a years time. McIlroy even let slip that he, Donald and a few others would meet for dinner Wednesday evening for some team bonding and discussion on how the course could favor the Europeans.

“I think the European Team has a core of six or seven guys that I think we all know are pretty much going to be on that team, and then it’s up to some of the younger guys to maybe step up,” McIlroy said.

“But I think we were in need of a rebuild, anyway. It was sort of, we did well with the same guys for a very long time but again as I just said, everything comes to an end at some point. I think Whistling Straits is a good sort of demarcation, I guess.

“That’s all behind us. We have got a core group of guys but let’s build on that again, and instead of filling those three or four spots with older veterans, let’s blood some rookies and let’s get them in and build towards the future. I think that’s important.”

The United States rolled to victory at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, 19-9, back in 2021, defeating a European side that featured the likes of Bernd Wiesberger, Paul Casey, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter, all of whom have gone to LIV Golf (Garcia and Poulter were captain’s picks).

Ryder Cup Practice Round — Team Europe player Jon Rahm (left) hits his tee shot in front of player Rory McIlroy (right) on the fifth hole during a practice round for the 43rd Ryder Cup golf competition at Whistling Straits. (Photo: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports)

Using the 2021 side to speculate, one can assume the six or seven core players McIlroy referenced are himself, Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Hatton, Hovland, Fitzpatrick and Shane Lowry. As for the rookies, the trio of captains will likely have their eyes on the Hojgaard brothers, Nicolai and Rasmus, who are both in this week’s field.

“I think anyone playing well this week will obviously be seen under a different light in a year’s time,” Edoardo Molinari explained. “Obviously still a very long way to go. Everyone will have to play very well to make the team or get a pick.”

“I think it’s very important, at least to have a good first look,” he said of McIlroy and Fitzpatrick playing this week. “I mean, as I said, we are going to make a few little changes but the bulk of the course will be the same, and even just for us to get their opinion on how the course is playing and what they would like to see and what they like to see on a golf course, how they play better in certain conditions or others, I think it’s just a benefit for everyone, and obviously it’s much appreciated that those guys were able to come here and play this event ahead of the Ryder Cup. Hats off to them.”

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Italian Edoardo Molinari encourages positivity, patience during coronavirus pandemic

Edoardo Molinari writes for the European Tour Player blog, detailing life in Italy during the coronavirus pandemic.

It’s no secret Italy has been hit hardest by the coronavirus.

As of Sunday, Italy leads the world in mortalities due to the virus. Italy’s COVID-19 death toll surpassed 10,000 on Saturday and there were 92,500 confirmed cases.

Edoardo Molinari and his family are among the Italians sheltering indoors during the pandemic. The European Tour pro described his experience over the past few weeks on the European Tour’s Player Blog.

Molinari last played at the Qatar Open, in which he missed the cut and flew back to Italy. Molinari wrote in a blog post that nearly a month ago the battle with the invisible enemy seemed to be under control in Italy.

That notion changed quickly. On March 9, Italians were ordered to shelter in place.

“Then all of a sudden that Monday night our Prime Minister was saying we need to do more and he was going to lockdown everything apart from offices and factories,” Molinari wrote in his blog. “Two days later you could only go out one time a week to the supermarket, and now they have shut down factories or businesses that are not involved directly with the food chain, or things we need to survive.”

Molinari, who lives on the outskirts of Turin in Northern Italy, wrote that he considers himself lucky he can stay home and doesn’t need to worry about his job. However, the virus still sits atop his thoughts.

So much so that he insists he’s rarely thinking about golf.

“I have a room in the house where I have a very small gym and a little putting green indoors,” Molinari wrote. “I spend an hour every day in the gym and half an hour putting but at the minute golf is not a priority. The most important thing right now is to make sure we all behave in a way that can help this situation get under control.”

Molinari said his family is fortunate because they live near a garden where they can spend time outside. But the decreased contact from those he loves is taking a toll. He said he speaks with his parents by phone or video every day and frequently with his brother, Francesco, in London.

“Even if we could visit, we wouldn’t, because it’s just too dangerous to go around so we just try and avoid contact with people as much as possible,” Edoardo wrote. “Luckily, we can use technology to communicate.”

Edoardo is also fortunate that he hasn’t contracted the virus.

In late February, Edoardo was one of two European Tour players temporarily quarantined and forced to withdraw from the Oman Open after fears his roommate and fellow Italian Lorenzo Gagli had the coronavirus. Gagli had exhibited flu-like symptoms.

But Gagli eventually tested negative for coronavirus and both golfers were cleared to play in the event, the second-to-last full event to be played on the European Tour before mass cancelations and postponements began around the sports world.

While there is fear, uncertainty and chaos, Edoardo wrote he was proud of how most Italians are reacting and encouraged others to be positive, careful and patient.

“If I said anything to you, it would be stay at home,” Edoardo wrote. “Please don’t think you are immune to this virus or that you won’t catch it. It’s better to be careful, to make a mistake on the safe side if anything, and just be patient and be positive.”

Edoardo’s full blog post can be read on the European Tour’s website.

Italian golfer Lorenzo Gagli cleared to play in Oman Open after testing negative for coronavirus

Italian golfer Lorenzo Gagli is now cleared to play in the Oman Open after his test for the coronavirus came back negative.

Italian golfer Lorenzo Gagli cleared to play in Oman Open after testing negative for coronavirus (G

Italian golfer Lorenzo Gagli is now cleared to play in the Oman Open after his test for the coronavirus came back negative.

Report: Two European Tour players WD from Oman Open as a result of coronavius quarantine

Two European Tour players have withdrawn from this week’s Oman Open, reportedly because they are being isolated as a coronavirus caution.

Two players have withdrawn from this week’s Oman Open on the European Tour, reportedly because they are being isolated to determine if they have been infected with the coronavirus. An Associated Press report names Italians Lorenzo Gagli and Edoardo Molinari as the players in question.

According to the AP, Gagli told the Italian newspaper La Nazione that a European Tour doctor told him at breakfast Wednesday to return to his room. Molinari, his roommate for the week in Oman, was moved to another room.

Gagli expressed frustration that isolation measures were being used in the case of himself and Molinari. He referenced shared meals with other players, contact in the gym and bus travel.

“If there was a risk of contagion, then they would have to isolate dozens of golfers and cancel the tournament,” Gagli said.

The Associated Press referenced an email from a European Tour spokesman that said only that Gagli and Molinari have withdrawn from the Oman Open on “medical grounds.” The spokesman said he could not say anything further because of patient confidentiality.

In the AP story, Gagli mentioned a European Tour email sent to players last week that requested they get vaccinated for yellow fever if planning to play in the Hero Indian Open on March 19-22 in New Delhi. He says he couldn’t get the vaccine before leaving Italy and was checked out by a European Tour doctor on Tuesday.

“I told her that I had had a fever until last Friday and she told me to wait two more days before getting the vaccine,” Gagli told the newspaper. “I went to train like normal and then this morning I was told of the decision to put me in isolation.”

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