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OMEGA MISSION HILLS WORLD CUPNovember 29, 2009Edoardo MolinariFrancesco MolinariOLAZABAL, CHINA MICHAEL GIBBONS: Many congratulations, OMEGA Mission Hills World Cup Champions. You must have nice feeling. FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, feels really good obviously. Probably we haven't realised yet what we have done, but we played great for all week, and today we just had to hang in there and try to finish it off in the last few holes. We were lucky to hole a couple of good putts just after the turn, which was really important to put us in front of everybody. I think we just played some great golf for all week, so it was amazing. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Maybe talk us through the winning putt, the only Italian in history to hole the winning putt in the World Cup. EDOARDO MOLINARI: It was a very sweet feeling after holing the putt. I mean, I hit a decent second shot. The wind kept it to the right and it went into the bunker. When I saw the bull in the bunker, it was lying okay, and I just said, "Francesco, just knock it on the green anywhere, and I'm going to hole the putt." It was I think a great way to finish, to win by one shot against some really good teams like Ireland and Sweden. I mean, all of the players involved in the other teams were Ryder Cup players, so I think we probably had not realised what we have done today. But I think it's going to be pretty good coming back home. Q. Football obviously dominates sport in Italy. Where would you say this ranks? How do you think it will be perceived at home? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I think, I mean it's not going to be easy to overtake the football games, but I think it's going to be big obviously because any World Cup in any sport is really big. Hopefully the game is growing a bit more now with Matteo Manassero coming out this year, and I think it will definitely help to grow the number of golfers. And maybe even some of the people who don't play golf will be interested in this week. Q. The little dance that you did at the end, the sort of rain dance, was that joy or was it relief? EDOARDO MOLINARI: A little bit of both but more joy than anything. I think for us to win this week was obviously a dream of ours, and to accomplish that and to win only by one shot I think is even more sweet than in other ways. For the last putt, I didn't want to miss it. And when I saw the ball going in, it was the sweetest feeling on earth. Q. Ireland called for more countries to send their very top players to take this tournament back to where it was a few decades ago, looking at the roll, there are some big names there. What do you reckon of those sentiments? EDOARDO MOLINARI: Well, this pretty much -- all of the Europeans countries had their best teams out there, because Spain with Sergio playing, Rory and McIlroy, probably the two best players from Ireland right now. England, the same -- FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Harrington. EDOARDO MOLINARI: Apart from Harrington. But still, they were very good teams. So probably the only team -- I don't want to say anything now. (Laughter). There were a few teams that didn't bring out their best teams, but still they have great players. So I mean, it's always nice to win even in front of so-called second teams. Q. It seems like you did a little bit better than your brother but now as a pro, Francesco has done a little bit better. How do you keep the two, not get into any kind of arguments, but still have a great chemistry between you two? EDOARDO MOLINARI: I think we just have a great relationship between the two of us as we showed today. And I mean, when he plays well, I'm very happy; and whenever I play well, he's happy for me. So it's just very simple. We have a great relationship between us and we are very happy when the other plays well. Q. Also, this is the third time you're representing Team Italy. Do you see both of you representing Italy in a few more, maybe breaking the soccer team record, four in a row? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Well, we just won the first one, so there's still a long way to go to win four. (Laughter). Obviously playing for Italy, it's maybe a bit easier to make the team for us than if we were playing for a bigger golf nation. But we are very proud obviously of representing the country, and I think some young players are coming out, as well, so we will need first to make the team, and then try to win another time. Q. Just wondering whether your family and friends back in Italy have been able to watch this tournament this week, and have you spoken to any of your family since you holed the final putt, and what did you say to them and what did they say to you? EDOARDO MOLINARI: I haven't spoken to anyone yet but I received a lot of messages on the phone, but I know for sure everyone was watching. I think the live coverage started at 4.30 a.m. this morning, and I think pretty much all of the guys we know were up early to watch the golf today. I think that we made them enjoy it pretty much, quite a bit. Q. Do you think the headline of the sports page on the paper tomorrow back in Italy will be AC Milan or the brothers Molinari winning the World Cup? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Depending on the result of the football. (Laughter). Q. After winning the World Cup, I believe you two tried to pick up the trophy. Is it a bit heavy? And right now you are wearing this gold jacket; how does it feel, and are you going to put it back in your closet and keep it? EDOARDO MOLINARI: The jackets are definitely coming home with us and staying in the closet in a very special place I think. And the trophy was very, very heavy, but we managed somehow to hold it. Q. What is your next goal after winning the World Cup? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I mean, you know, it's an individual sport all year round, so we will have probably maybe different goals for next season. But we will look forward to coming back here to defend the title. And for our individual goals, I think it's pretty much for both of us is to keep improving the World Rankings and the European rankings and maybe have a little thought on The Ryder Cup. But it's going to be really, really hard to make the team. Q. On No. 12 and No. 13, how long were those two putts, the long birdie putts? And also, what club did you use on No. 18 out of the bunker and how far was that? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I used a lob-wedge on the 18th for the bunker shot, and the two putts were -- I don't know, it's hard to say. The one on 12 was probably around ten meters, and the one on 13, maybe just short of 9. Q. Which one do you feel is the sweetest one today? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Both of them, because both of them were really important to gain an advantage towards Ireland and Sweden. And we needed them both. So I wouldn't be able to pick just one of the two. Q. Not many people have said you two look very much alike as brothers; is that true? Many people, can they tell you two are brothers? EDOARDO MOLINARI: I think we are quite different physically as brothers, but we are quite similar characters and we get along with each other very well. So physically we are different, but that's about the only difference I think. Q. Which victory is sweeter, this one today or your historic win in The Italian Open? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Right now, this one, because the other one is quite a long way back now. And so I mean, I still remember it, but I was looking for another one, and, I don't know, apparently I like to win just big tournaments with big meanings. So it's great. I mean, right now, this is definitely the nicest golfing moment. Q. Where does this achievement stand in the overall context of Italian golf, Constantino Rocca and Ryder Cup and stuff like that? And what does it do in terms of taking it into what we call the mainstream nations of European golf? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I think, well, it will help a lot to get a lot of people closer to golf and maybe try and have a go at it and try and become golfers. Compared to the other Italian achievements, I think -- I don't know, I mean, it's hard to say. Probably Constantino, you know, almost winning The Open and winning The Ryder Cup, it's maybe a bit higher up than us. But I think we are just below that and it feels amazing. Q. This is the third year in a row you have played here at Mission Hills. Will you tell us your impression about Mission Hills, and also, just the course, is it playing more and more difficult to you, or has it become much easier after all three years? EDOARDO MOLINARI: I think Mission Hills is a great golf club. The golf course we play for the World Cup is very, very good, especially for this format with five par 5s and five par 3s, and a great finish from 15 to 18, it is a very good four last holes. I think this year the course was playing a little bit easier because the greens were a little bit slower than last year and two years ago. So I mean, there are some tricky shots, as well, on this course, and the experience of the last three years definitely helped us a lot, because you know that you can go for some pins and some other pins are quite dangerous. So it was a big, big help having played two other World Cups before this one. Q. You have had a fantastic finish to the year. Can you tell us what is behind your great form coming into the end of the year, and what that means for you going into next year? EDOARDO MOLINARI: Well, I think overall this year, I played a lot better than the last few years, and much more consistent, just because I worked very hard this winter to try and change my swing, quite dramatically, I would say. It helped me a lot to be more consistent throughout the season. And then just after The Challenge Tour grand finale, I had two weeks off where I could fix a few other things that I didn't like in my swing and my putting. So I was coming to Japan in very good form, and I think this week, I played a little bit worse than last week in Japan, but fortunately Francesco played great golf this week. So he made up for a few mistakes of mine. It feels great to finish the year in such a great way after all of the hard work I put in this winter. Q. How did you two start playing golf, and did you start at the same time? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, we started more or less at the same time because our parents, they play golf, just as a hobby. So we spent a lot of weekends at the golf club just hitting a few balls and then maybe even playing football with friends, but we have been around golf clubs for a long time. So that's how we started. Q. How old were you roughly? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Probably six and seven en, seven and eight. Q. And what would you like to say to your fans and relatives and families back home right now? EDOARDO MOLINARI: I hope they enjoyed this good day of golf (smiling). Q. Which football games or which golf tournaments, which one do you guys prefer to watch football games or watch golf tournaments, which one do you prefer? EDOARDO MOLINARI: You mean watch on TV? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Football. EDOARDO MOLINARI: Football. Q. Which team do you like to watch? FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Inter. Inter Milan. EDOARDO MOLINARI: Juventus. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Okay, I think we will wrap it up there. Many congratulations again, OMEGA Mission Hills World Cup Champions. Well done. End of FastScripts |
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