ABU DHABI HSBC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

January 19, 2023

Edoardo Molinari

Yas Links

Quick Quotes

Q. An up-and-down front nine for you at 1-under par but a terrific back nine at 4-under in those conditions, how pleased with your day's work?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: Very pleased. I think when I got out today, I thought anything, one, 2-under par was a decent score in the afternoon and the golf was actually playing a little bit easier than what I thought. Some of the pins were very generous today but overall very pleased.

Just two bogeys on the front without really missing shots, just two bad lies, one on the side of the green and one in the fairway bunker. Finally holed a few putts.

Q. You've been saying for a while that you're hitting the ball quite beautifully but the putter is determining whether you contend or not. You've gone from the anchored putter back to the short one. How did that feel?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: It felt very good today. Last year I putted most of the year with the short one and I gave it one more go towards the end of the season with three or four events. Being a stats guy, I looked at numbers and it wasn't much better. There was a good spell during the year where I putted well with the short one, and I just went back to doing the exact same drills, the exact same things and it seems likes so far, that's good. It's paying off.

Q. Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald was in early on saying he was inspired by the play at The Hero Cup last week. How about yourself?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: Absolutely. Any time you can watch some good golf in person, it just makes you play better. It makes you want it a little bit more. It was good last week. I thought the guys were fantastic. We get along great. Luke, Thomas, Nico, we had a little match Thursday morning before the guys went out and played. It was good fun. You can tell, Luke has been playing some really good golf lately. Definitely sort out his problems off the tee and he can still be dangerous here and there.

Q. Who won the match?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: It was a tie.