ABU DHABI HSBC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

January 20, 2023

Francesco Molinari

Yas Links

Quick Quotes

Q. 67, how pleased with that day's work?

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Very pleased. Same score as yesterday but very different day. Many more up-and-downs than yesterday. A couple of 3-putts, a couple of mental errors but also lots of good stuff, a couple of long putts made. So a bit of everything. Obviously a very good back nine, which is nice. I think where you are, where I'm at at the moment, when you go through a tough patch, it's nice to see that I can pick it up again?

Q. You missed a short putt at 11, your second hole and holed a long one at the third. How important was that for momentum? Because you went on to 5-under for the last seven after that big putt.

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, very important. I hit a good putt on 2. Misread it a little bit. It was a slider and didn't move as much as I thought.

Yeah, I think for me mentally, the main thing is hitting good putts. I'm going to miss some. Obviously everyone misses short putts but as long as I feel that the stroke is out of the middle, then I can make some longer ones and get it back like that.

Q. A 67, 10-under par, that's a great couple of day's work, isn't it?

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, it is. It is. Great start. Just seem to continue the good play from last week. Today, yeah, a couple of rough patches on the front nine but then seem to make a couple of long putts on the back and hit some lovely iron shots into some of the greens. So nice obviously to end up the day like that.

Q. Compared with yesterday, it was a different character of round, wasn't it?

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, very different. Conditions were very different, especially when we started, there was hardly any breeze. Yesterday it was breezy all day in the afternoon.

Yeah, if I'm completely honest, I didn't feel as comfortable as I did yesterday on the course but more comfortable toward the end. Like I was saying before, when you're not maybe extremely confident in my game yet, it's nice to see that even after a rough couple of holes, I can get back to doing my own thing and hitting some good golf shots.

Q. How far are you from having that kind of confidence, do you think?

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I don't know how golf is. I don't want to get ahead of myself. It's a couple of good rounds but I know, I'm aware of where I'm coming from. So like I said yesterday, the game feels different. I think it looks different, too. But yeah, it's just two rounds, so a long way to go.

Q. What's prompted the change in fortunes as it appears at the moment?

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, to be honest I think I've been making progress the whole of last year. Obviously I was falling a long, long way back. So you can't turn it around in just a couple of weeks.

Yeah, just this winter, a couple of small changes. Yeah, just some good work at home. It's just as simple as that, some quality work at hole. It was obviously nice last week to play well under pressure and that's at the end of the day the only way to gain, really, confident in my game.

Q. And I know no one wants to get ahead of themselves but how inspiring potentially is the prospect of an Italian Ryder Cup for you in terms of this road back to form?

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I think obviously you don't need my answer; it would be incredible. Yeah, there's many months to go. It's obviously nice to start the season this way. I never needed a pick for my three Ryder Cups, so it would be nice not to need a pick again this year.