|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
DP WORLD TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP, DUBAINovember 14, 2018Francesco MolinariDubai, United Arab Emirates CLARE BODEL: Welcome, Francesco. FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Thank you. CLARE BODEL: So it's been something of an incredible year for you, a lot of highs, but here you are, the final event of the opinion in pole position, maybe people would say, to win The Race to Dubai. How does it feel to be here in that position? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, it feels obviously incredible. A new position for me. I've never been here in the past. I think obviously it's just a consequence and a sign of an incredible season. I would have never guessed that I would be here in this position if you told me in April or May this year, but it's been an incredible summer, topped by an unbelievable Ryder Cup. Really, it's a dream season for me, and it's nice to be here in this position. Hopefully I'll be able to close it out. I know it's not going to be easy, and I'm not making any assumptions, but I'll do my best on the course to do the job. CLARE BODEL: After your win at Wentworth earlier in the season, and this could potentially be a Rolex Series win if you do the job here. What does it mean to win an event like a Rolex Series Event? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, it's obviously great. There's a few events that we target every year. It's great for us to have the opportunity to play in such special tournaments, and yet we need to give The European Tour for giving us the opportunity. Especially for guys like me, playing a home event in Italy that is part of the Rolex Series, just gives a completely new meaning to The Italian Open and to being there. Seeing some of the top guys competing in your own country; I'm sure it's the same for guys France and Ireland and Scotland and the other countries where the Rolex Series are staged. I think this is obviously even more special, being the last event of the season. All the best players in The Race to Dubai are here, and it's an incredibly competitive field. So it's going to be tough. It's never going to be easy when you have these kind of players here, and hopefully I can play good enough golf to have a chance on Sunday. Q. Francesco, obviously it's been an incredible year, The Open win, and The Ryder Cup, but how much would winning the Order of Merit, or The Race to Dubai crown, and being the first Italian to do so mean to you? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: A lot. I think it doesn't matter how much you achieve in the game. Obviously you will still be wanting to achieve more, first of all. Second, it would mean a lot because it's a season, year race, which makes it a lot harder to win. You can have the best week of your life and win one tournament, but to win a competition that lasts throughout the season, with the amount of talent there is right now on The European Tour, is something really hard to do but also still hard to figure out for me how I'm here in this position. I've been saying this a lot but since may, it's all been going very fast and very quickly and so many things happening one after the other, that I haven't had time really to sit down and think through what's happened in the last few months. Hopefully I'll be able to do the job this week and then sit down next week and start reflecting on the season and digest everything that's happened before, starting to prepare for next year. Q. You talked about the change and how you would never have believed that you could have achieved what you have achieved. Would you tell us, please, what you think is the single most important thing that you have done that has enabled you to become as successful as you are now? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I don't think there's a secret or there's one single thing that has made a difference to be honest. I think it's the work that I've done through the years. If you want to point out something, I can probably tell you I've been lucky enough or smart enough or, you know, whatever you want to say, to take the right decisions at the right time in my career. I was obviously, you know, a good player, a talented player when I was 22 and I turned pro, but I was nowhere near this level. I've just been able to be through the years, to be through up and downs. And yet I think the sometimes for golfers, you don't think enough how important it is to make the right calls and the right decisions at the right time. It's very easy to get emotional with the results and to, you know, to just blame that and change your staff or change clubs. There's so many things that you can change. Yet I think if I have to point to one thing for me, it was the decision-making and being patient and sticking with the right people, even, you know, through difficult times. Q. And can you give an example of the decision-making, for instance? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Without upsetting anyone? (Smiling). Yeah, I mean, sticking with Denis, I think has been a great decision for 15 years, almost 16 years. I don't think you see many guys working with the same swing coach for 16 years. In my physical development, I think I've, again, employed the right people at the right time and then stepped up things at the right time. I think meeting Dave Alred at the right time was a bit of luck, a bit of good decision-making. It's not only employing the right people, but it's also doing it at the right time because you need to be ready for things. To make an example, if I had met Dave ten years ago, I don't think I would have had the same results. It's stuff like that that I think in the end does make the difference. Q. Can I just ask one follow-up? How did you meet Dave? Did he come to you and say he could do something for you? Did you go to him or had you seen him working or how did that come about? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, I saw him working with Luke and Pádraig before. But yeah, I was more curious than anything because I didn't really know exactly what he did. And then through a common friend, we basically, yeah, got introduced and I got to know a little bit more about what he did, and I just told him, you know, if you can let's sit down one day have a coffee and see if we can do something together. Obviously I had to like him and he had to like what he was seeing in me, and then we both did, and I think that's why it's been working out. Q. It's a little bit about Dave, as well. Can you talk a little bit about the changes you made with equipment, and for example, playing in America, what did he told you about this, to stay positive and embrace the changes? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, I think it's two different things. That's another example, going to play more in the States, I think I've done that -- again, I don't know if by luck or by trying to be smart. I think I've done that at the right time. It wasn't easy at first. It's a new tour. You need to adapt to different courses, different conditions, and I think that helped me getting better as a player. And yeah, I mean, the work I did with Dave, it helps me in many ways, but again, I think Dave works so well because he came in a team with Denis and Rob Goldup, my physical trainer. Phil Kenyon joined this year. My caddie, Pello. There's a team around me that really works well together. You know, there's no jealousy between them. They do basically what's best for me and for my game. I think that's how I managed to get better this far and I think it's going to be really important and really challenging, as well, to reach this level and to keep going down that way. It's easy sitting here and saying, you know, you need to get better, but then you need to find ways to do it, and it's not always straightforward. There's no one really with the answer pointing you the way saying, if you do this every day, you're going to get better; you're going to shoot 68 every round. So you need to try and figure it out, try to be smart, and we've done that. As a team, we've done that so well in the last two, three years, and even earlier than that, and the challenge is going to be to keep doing that going forward. Q. Do you know the permutations this week of what needs to happen for you to win The Race to Dubai? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yes. Q. When you turn up at an event, you think, right, I've got to win it, that's your ambition, but this week, if you finish top five, you can deny Tommy even if he wins. Is that strange? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Not really, because I'm not the kind of guy that show up for an event and thinks, I want to win this week. My mental process is more, you know, showing up to the event and I need to do this and this and this to play well, and I need to go and play shot by shot and round by round. I usually don't get too far ahead of myself. So in that way, you know, on Thursday morning, nothing is going to be different. I need to go out and play my best, do my best, and hopefully on Sunday, I'll be leading or I'll be in with a chance. But if not, I'll still go out Sunday morning and do my best and if Tommy wins, obviously, you know, fair play to him. He's had a great season so far, and to win here, it would make him the deserving winner of The Race to Dubai. Q. Will you keep an eye on what he's doing throughout the week, how he's playing? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Well, yeah, I've got eyes, and there are leaderboards out there. If there were four or five guys into the race, it would be hard to do the math, but basically, even with my poor math, it's really easy to do the calculations. Q. Does it make it harder, given that you and Tommy are quite close? Is it any harder? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: No, no, it doesn't. I know we said this and we're going to sound really cheesy, but if I don't win, I'd rather see him win than anyone else, and we really are good friends and like I said, he's had an amazing season. To think that he won last year, and to come here, still with a chance to win two in a row, it's incredible, really. So fair play to him. What I can say for me is that it's been a great season, and however it goes this week, I'm still going to have lots of great memories from all of what I've done this year, and probably the best memory is what we've done together with him in France. I can't really be mad at him, even if he wins (laughter). Q. On a similar theme, what's the atmosphere going to be like on Thursday? Are you going to try and give him the cold shoulder, or would that just not work? Are you too friendly to try any kind of tactic? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: No, we're too friendly. And it's Thursday, anyway, so it's too early, anyway, to really think too far ahead. I'm sure we're going to have fun, and like any time we're paired together, like I said, all I can do is focus on my game and try to do as good as I can. I don't know honestly if that's going to be, you know, winning the tournament or finishing Top-20 or Top-10 or Top-5, whatever it is I need to do my best, and then have some deserved time off. And after a few days, weeks, months, off, go back into the process of getting better and building it for next year and hopefully achieve more things next year. Q. Assuming you do win The Race to Dubai, is this the start of a period of Monty style-dominance in The Race to Dubai? Can you see yourself winning seven in a row? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Well, we've got the same swing coach, so you never know. Maybe Denis is the secret for that. We'll find out pretty soon. Q. You just mentioned about looking forward to having that time off. How much are you looking forward to going back to Italy for the first time? And how different will it be going back to Italy with the Claret Jug, and also the first golfer to win the Golden Collar? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, it's going to be definitely a special moment. I've seen my family, you know, in London, but I haven't been back to Italy yet. So there is a few people that I'd like to share the Claret Jug with. Probably a lot less people than the requests I get, so I'll have to manage that, but it's going to be fun. And it's going to be great to receive the prize you mentioned in Italy. I'm going to be the first golfer to get it. I think so far it's only been given to Gold Medal Olympics or world championships. You know, it shows how well my win at The Open was received in Italy and yeah, hopefully it's another step towards golf being more popular in Italy. Yeah, it will be well received, as well, that I get that honor. Q. You seem to have a remarkably calm attitude. Can you tell us the last time that you got angry about something? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, probably yesterday I think. Q. About what? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I'm not really sure I can say this without getting in trouble with my wife, so (laughter) and that's something that was -- it's nothing -- something to do with kids, let's say. My son was not behaving too well. Q. And the time before that, when was that (laughter). FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I don't know, let's stick to the golf course, let's say. And China, for example, HSBC, especially the first two days I played really poorly. I get upset like everyone, and probably more than a lot of people. You just need to ask my caddie or Denis or anyone around me, Gorka. Gorka is sitting in the back of the room. So you can ask him the question. Just when I'm out on the course, I've learned as a kid pretty early that it's not really productive to get too mad. Somehow I managed to work on that, and I get mad, but I try to get over it as quickly as possible and I try not to slam clubs or break clubs or swear or do stuff like that. Q. Jonathan wants to know: How has your 2018 season, your newfound fame changed your life? For example, do you get recognized more when you're out and about in London? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, I do. I do get recognized a lot more, and I think it's inevitable with the success, and it's part of it. I think that's going to be part of the off-season. I need to adapt to the new reality and not only that, but obviously being here and getting more media requests and more things to kind of eat into the time that I used to dedicate completely to preparation. It is a challenge and I'll have to get adapted to it and deal with it. Q. Is it something you enjoy, embrace, the newfound fame? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yes, I do. I do. The good thing about living in London is that there's loads of things going on. I'm sure if I was still leaving in Turin, it would be maybe more challenging. In London, there's loads of stuff going on and I think the British people in a funny way, they come and say hi, but they are always very worried about intruding too much. Living in London I think makes that a little bit easier. Q. And Sarah here says that every golfer wants to be as consistent as you, so what are your tips to any aspiring golfer when it comes to finding consistency? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Just practice. There's no secret, you need to put time into golf. I know it's boring, but there's no way to get better without putting the effort in, and try to make your practice smart, don't be too repetitive. Make it mentally engaging so that your brain is always on and you're trying to get better and you're just trying to repeat the same option better, over and over. CLARE BODEL: Thank you, Francesco, and good luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|