HERO CUP

January 15, 2023

Francesco Molinari

Abu Dhabi Golf Club

Continental Europe

Quick Quotes

Q. You've led your team to victory, just how good does that feel?

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Amazing, amazing. I could finally relax the last couple of hours have been tense after finishing my game. But yeah, it's been great all week, super happy for the guys. Like I said all week, it's been very, very easy leading them and being a captain for them. I think we found some really good pairings and just had a great week to start the year and I can only wish them all best for the rest of the season.

Q. What pleased you most about this performance?

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Many, many things. Like I said, many pairings seemed to gel really, really well, which was great. Made my job a lot easier because I didn't have to tinker and change too much. Just spending time with some of the guys, the younger guys that maybe I didn't know as well, it's been great fun.

Q. How valuable do you think for the players here, the ones that go on to play The Ryder Cup, has this experience been?

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Invaluable, really, especially for the younger guys but even for us, to play match play, just get the juices going early, this early in the year, it's a great event. We really enjoy it. The DP World Tour has done a great job at setting it up. Obviously the crowds have enjoyed it as well.

I think we played some really good golf all in all, so hopefully we can do it again next year or the year after.

Q. May want to be Ryder Cup Captain one day, how valuable is this experience for you if that's the case? Luke Donald said it was huge for him?

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I can only imagine the stress of the captain in The Ryder Cup environment. Obviously I love the event and it would be something amazing and incredible to be honest that I haven't even dreamed about. But obviously I'd love to do it. But to be honest I'd love to play in a couple more before that.

Q. You've had a fantastic week personally, 3 1/2 points after 4. To make the team in your home country and your brother as a vice captain, how big of a goal is that?

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Obviously it's there. It's a great motivation for me. I need to be careful; it's a long way away and there's a lot of golf to be played in between and a lot of goals, intermediate goals to get there. So just focus on my game. Like you said, it's definitely much better than it's been. So hopefully I can play some good golf and be in Rome. Being in Rome would be absolutely incredible.