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BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

September 17, 2019

Francesco Molinari

Surrey, England

BRIONY CARLYON: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm delighted to have our defending champion of the BMW PGA Championship, Francesco Molinari here today.

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Thank you.

BRIONY CARLYON: Fran, let's roll back to May last year and just give us your memories of what was really an incredible week for you at Wentworth.

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, this week has always been special to me, even before last year, but obviously last year made it extra, extra special.

Yeah, just, you know, a long, tough week. Obviously playing on Sunday with Rory, but four days, it's a golf course where you can't really rest any time.

Yeah, obviously beautiful memories. The kind of duel with Rory on Sunday, and finally getting my hands on the trophy, and obviously gave me a lot of confidence for the coming months after that.

BRIONY CARLYON: You've spoken about that record. It's six Top-10s you've had at Wentworth, and now with the event here in September and the start of The Ryder Cup points as well and how it kick started your season last year, how important is that for you this week.

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Well, I think to be honest, you know, for The Ryder Cup, there's plenty of time. Anyone obviously would like to start with a win or with a strong finish, but you know, that's a long way away. So it will be interesting to see the course in the new date. I think being after the summer, it would be firmer, probably, than most years we've seen in May.

But yeah, the weather looks beautiful for the next few days. So hopefully the crowds will be as big, if not bigger than what we were getting in May, and it will be another special week for everyone.

Q. As you mention, a different date this year. How have you found the changes in the golfing calendar this year? Has it affected you, if at all, having a condensed major season in particular?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, I think it affected everyone, obviously. It's very different to what we were used to. For me, it simply meant spending the first eight months of the year, really, in the States. And then now I'm going to have a busy time ahead. Obviously more focusing on The European Tour. It's just different. You know, I'm sure everyone said that the majors went by really, really quickly compared to what we were used to. It will take some time to adjust to it, and next year is going to be even more interesting for the ones of us who are going to play in the Olympics and hopefully in The Ryder Cup. It's going to be a busy, busy year.

Q. You sort of touched upon it, but how important was this tournament last year as the sort of spring board for everything that followed? You mentioned, you know, playing the final round with Rory, going head-to-head with Rory and beating him. How important was that in terms of winning The Open, winning five from five at The Ryder Cup and everything that followed?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: It was massive because I had been in a similar position to last year here without being able to close the tournament out. It just gave me a lot of confidence. I was watching a video yesterday of the last few holes on Sunday, and you could see I was uncomfortable in that position. I think that was the first step forward to getting more comfortable in leading a tournament and closing it out.

The win in the States obviously helped even more going into The Open, which gave me even more confidence than going into The Ryder Cup. I'm sure when I stop playing, I'll reflect on last year as an amazing year, but especially those three months, May, June, July were something -- it would be hard to be honest for me to reproduce. Obviously I'll work as hard as I can to do it, but I know I've said a pretty high standard.

Q. What did you see from the video, what can you tell by watching the video how nervous you were last year? What did you see yourself doing?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Just the face and the body language. I think if you compare it already to Carnoustie, it's pretty easy to see the difference. I'm quite happy the way it went and yeah if I get into that position again this year, hopefully I'll hit a better third shot into 18.

Q. What you saw of the schedule coming up for the rest of the season, you mentioned a bit more focus on The European Tour. What tournaments are you playing?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I'm playing safe way in the States next week because one of the issues I find with the schedule and with playing two tours, obviously you don't want to start in the States in January having not played in any event. It's trying to fit one or two U.S. events between now and the end of the year.

So I'll play obviously this week, and then Italy, China, probably Turkey, Dubai, Hong Kong. So I think it's seven weeks out of 11 coming up. So I've played 15 tournaments so far this year, so I've got a third of the season still to go pretty much.

Q. For the time you had between winning here and probably the Masters, just seemed to be almost sublime golf for you. But do you feel it's been a bit of a lull since then and you need another kick start, and this week could do it?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, it would be nice. I think obviously, you know, I learned last year and I showed last year that winning helps. The more you win, the easier it gets, even if it's never easy.

I've had this year, a really good start of the season. And then yeah, after the Masters, obviously I haven't performed as well. I think there's been maybe some scheduling issues. I've played decent golf in the -- in the other majors, apart from the US PGA. I'm happy the way I played at the U.S. Open and The Open. I'm not happy the way I played in the other tournaments.

It's hard to pinpoint one reason as to why. I've spoken to the people around me and we're trying to work out how best to move forward, and to play better golf.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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