The best man won.
Hottest player on the planet remains exactly that.
No one has been better than Francesco Molinari that past two months.
No one was better than him on a wind-swept Sunday at Carnoustie.
The Claret Jug is his, the title Champion Golfer Of The Year is his. He earned them, the hard way — he played his Italian butt off, there in the presence of the greatness that is Tiger Woods.
They gave Molinari that tough assignment with the final round pairings — yeah, Francesco, go out there and play with Tiger Woods, the guy they go bonkers over, the guy Rory McIroy says is so very hard to play with.
Didn’t matter. Molinari got down to work from the get-go and he’d handle a day that was basically golf’s version of Survivor. Molinari would be the guy who would out-wit, out-last and out-play everyone, including the 14-time major champion who brought the heat early, then crumbled mid-round.
Carnoustie did its part. It came out with a vengeance, tired of the Saturday birdie barrage that saw so many go low, including Woods, whose 66 put him in the thick of the Sunday battle.
Carnoustie was fed up and came out full-bore tough on those guys. It slobber-knocked the heck out of the three youthful overnight leaders — Jordan Spieth, Kevin Kisner and Xander Schauffele.
There were all kinds of contenders showing up. Eddie Pepperell got in early, shot 67 and posted five-under. That didn’t sound all that great until Carnoustie started having its way with most everyone out there with the exception of Molinari.
A bunch had their moments. Justin Rose birdied the 18th for the fourth straight day and his 64-69 over the weekend made six-under the score to beat.
A sensational eagle by Rory McIlroy sent the kid from Northern Ireland into a spinning double-fist pump. But that would be his last highlight and he’d post six-under.
Spieth got humbled — no birdies, a double and three bogeys. The defending champ was humbled, big-time, with 76. There would be no miracle like Royal Birkdale.
Kisner was in over his head and did well to shoot 74 and claim a piece of second.
Schauffele was the last guy with a shot. But a miss for birdie at the 16th from 10-feet then a horrendous second from the fairway at 17 left him way right, tangling with a challenging third and a crying child. Bogey there left him needing to hole his second on the last hole and that didn’t happen.
The engraver was at it full speed, stamping an Italian name on that silver band, one of many bands on the Claret Jug that read like a Who’s Who in the history of golf.
Molinari’s name is there — rightfully so.
He won the European Tour’s flagship event (BMW PGA) in June then finished runner-up at the Italian Open. In July he won the National, went T25 at the U.S. Open then finished tied for second at the John Deere last Sunday, jumped on that charter and headed for Carnoustie.
His final round was the stuff major titles are made of. Thirteen straight pars, then birdie at the 15th. Three more pars then a five-footer for birdie at the 18th, with Tiger Woods watching every one of his 69 shots. Two-under 69 was heavy lifting in those conditions. Rose was the only other man in the top five to match that.
“The way Franceso played today was beautiful,” said Woods and Woods, with 14 majors, knows what a beautiful final round looks like.
Molinari did not hold back his joy.
“What a week! It is incredible to stand here and I should thank all my family for the support they give me when I travel all around the world. This golf course was incredible, the R&A did an amazing job of setting it up. I feel disbelief. It is amazing to be here with the Claret Jug. I knew I was coming in with good golf but my record here was terrible so I was not optimistic about the week. I did not want to think about it and just focus on hitting the shots.”
Man did he hit golf shots.
In the end, he paced nervously on the practice putting green as Schauffele made his final shots.
“I could not watch Xander play the last two holes so I went to the putting green. I would have been sick! To look at the names on the Claret Jug, they are the best in history. For me, to come from Italy, it has been an incredible journey.”
And an incredible walk with Woods over the final 18.
“Tiger was great today,” he pointed out. “There are a lot more people if you are grouped with him than if you are playing with some of the other guys. I have done it before so I knew what was coming. I was competing against all the guys, not just Tiger. There was very good sportsmanship today. He had it going on the front nine and then unfortunately he had some bad ones on the bad ones. That happens at Carnoustie.”
Bad ones for Woods and everyone else, Molinari kept “the bad ones” at bay, away from his surgical round.
“I have been beaten up around here in the past and I don’t like that feeling,” he added. ” To play the weekend bogey-free around here is impressive.”
No Francesco, it was not just “impressive” — it was beyond impressive.
