	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

March 27, 2010

Edoardo Molinari

ORLANDO, FLORIDA

Q. Did you tee off after your brother or before your brother finished his round today? Are you aware of what he did?
EDOARDO MOLINARI: Yes, I think he shot 5-under today.

Q. 65 today and he's tied for eighth and here you are tied for fourth on the weekend. Pretty good weekend for the Molinari brothers?
EDOARDO MOLINARI: It's a good round today and we hope to finish well tomorrow.
It was very fun playing with Phil, and his big crowds, it's amazing. I think everyone loves him out here. It was a lot of fun to play with him. He's a great guy to play with. I think I played okay today. Probably played better the first two days, but today was a bit more difficult. The wind was blowing a little bit harder and it was very gusty. It wasn't consistent wind. So all in all, I'm happy with the way I played today and I hope to have a good round tomorrow.

Q. Before the tournament started, you and I had a chance to chat and I asked you about your poise, playing in a field of this stature, you couldn't have had a bigger stage than what you have today; I take it that really helped your confidence?
EDOARDO MOLINARI: Absolutely. Playing with Phil today, I knew it was going to be a big day for me and I think stood up to the test quite well. I really enjoyed playing with him. As I said, I think any time you have a chance to play with great players, you have to enjoy it, because it's the best you can have. It was great fun.

Q. Just the way you want, preparing for the Masters?
EDOARDO MOLINARI: Yeah, I think it's great. This week, it helps a lot with the preparation for the Masters, especially the way the course was set up. The greens are make not as quick as Augusta but they are very good and you have a lot of chip shots around the greens that are very similar to what you are going to get at Augusta National. I think it's a great week, and also the fact of playing with Phil in front of the big crowds, I think that's the best preparation you can have for the Masters.

Q. Is there a lot of excitement back in Italy about having you and your brother there at the Masters?
EDOARDO MOLINARI: Yeah, absolutely. I think last year, no one ever dreamt of having three players at the Masters, and this year it's going to be the two of us and Matteo Manassero. Hopefully everyone is excited. And there is The Italian Open a month after the Masters and hopefully we will see big crowds at The Italian Open after the Masters; that means something is changing.

Q. Have you been going back and forth?
EDOARDO MOLINARI: I went back for the Match Play and then I came back for the Doral and I stayed last week in Atlanta and this week here, and next week again is going to be a little bit in Georgia.

Q. Do you have some friends that are out here with you this week? I saw you talk to some people in the gallery ropes in Italian?
EDOARDO MOLINARI: It's an Italian friend of mine who I have not seen for like seven or eight years. We were playing amateur golf together and he's hanging out here with his girlfriend.

Q. Do you find that somebody shouts something in Italian in your round?
EDOARDO MOLINARI: Yeah, especially in America, I think there are a lot of Italians in the galleries. It was great fun. Today playing with Phil, we had big crowds.

Q. What is Phil like, just playing with him? The fans love him so much?
EDOARDO MOLINARI: I think he's the best guy you can play with on the PGA. He's a very fast player. He doesn't waste any time hitting the shots, and he talks with you. He's a very nice guy.

Q. That win over Robert Karlsson a few months back seemed to put you on a quick path. What did that do for your confidence, you lost your card and had to go get your card back and won some tournaments.
EDOARDO MOLINARI: I think last year I played very well on The Challenge Tour, very consistent, but the level on The Challenge Tour honestly is a little bit lower, quite a bit lower than The European Tour.
So having that great finish for the year, beating Robert in a playoff and then beating him again the week after in the World Cup with Francesco against Rory and Graeme, and Henrik, I think it was great for my confidence, because I knew that my game was not only good for The Challenge Tour, but it was good to play at this level.
I think this week is kind of the same again. I think key for my confidence because this field, it's a great field this week, a lot of great players, and to be playing well this week, I think it's very important.

Q. You and your brother, he mentioned to you that your brother shot 65 and he's T-8, are you keeping score of who is doing what and is there a rivalry? You are separated by like two spots in the World Rankings?
EDOARDO MOLINARI: There is a little bit of a rivalry but in a good way. Whenever he plays well, I'm happy, and I'm sure he will be very happy watching my score. It's great for the Tour because it always keeps you wanting more and keeps you wanting to improve, and it's great.

Q. Do you actively help each other, as well, in the evening, do you swap notes?
EDOARDO MOLINARI: A little bit. We always play the practice rounds together and it's always better playing with someone you know and someone that knows when you do when you're playing well than when you're not. You can always ask him for advice. I think it's been great.

Q. He caddied for you at the Masters when you played with Tiger after you won the U.S. Amateur. That must have just blown your head, that experience.
EDOARDO MOLINARI: It was a dream. Maybe I wasn't ready to play that course, because as an amateur, you don't play any course which is anywhere similar to Augusta National. So it's very, very difficult.
The fact that I played with him on my bag I think helped me a little bit, and we had the time of our life.

Q. Are you ready now, four years later?
EDOARDO MOLINARI: I hope. I've worked very hard in the last four years, and I think I'm a better player. I just can't wait to go there and see how good I am.

Q. You haven't been there in the four years since?
EDOARDO MOLINARI: I was there last week for a day and a half. The course is nice.

Q. Has there been something going on in Italy with Italian golf?
EDOARDO MOLINARI: I think the Federation has been helping us a lot, especially young professionals, have not seen yet the results. Francesco and I turned pro just before this program started. Manassero just started, and I think the Federation is doing a great job. I'm sure in the next few years, maybe not at the Masters, but you will see more Italians on The European Tour.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297