Magnifico!
Perfetto!
Bella!
It was every bit of that at steamy TPC Potomac Sunday as Italy’s favorite golfing son put on a clinic to behold at The National.
Francesco Molinari was indeed Magnificent, his game was Perfect and his runaway win was nothing short of beautiful.
The 35-year-old Italian star skipped one of his favorite events in Europe to play in this last go-round for the tournament built around Tiger Woods years ago.
“It was the right decision,” Molinari quickly observed after he blazed his way to a spectacular closing 62. He was a single eight-foot putt shy of a course record 61 when he missed his chance at the 72nd hole.
Other than that it was an amazing display of accuracy, shot-making and putting for the first Italian to win on the PGA Tour since Toney Penna won back in 1947.
“Amazing, amazing,” Molinari said after a day that saw him blow the rest of the field away with an eagle-birdie-birdie-birdie-birdie start to his final nine holes — six-under par on 10 through 14.
“I’m glad I played great,” Molinari said of his final round. “The start of the back nine was incredible.”
Incredible?
“What Francesco did out there was phenomenal,” was how Tiger Woods described it. Woods, whose closing 66 earned him a tie for fourth, quickly quipped “I would have had to shoot 24 on the back nine to tie him.”
Yes, it was phenomenal by anyone’s standards.
After a couple of front nine birdies got him to 15-under, he rolled in the eagle from just inside 50-feet at the 10th and then ran away from everyone.
He was a ball-striking, fairway-finding, green-grabbing machine out there in the stifling D.C. heat and humidity. But it looked like he hardly broke a sweat.
No one should be surprised by this, really.
Earlier this year he won the biggie over in England at Heathrow, the European PGA. Didn’t budge when Rory McIlroy was challenging.
The next week he nearly won the Italian Open — missed there by one shot.
For the record, he shot 29 coming home Sunday, he’ll probably tell his friends afterward that he should have holed the eight-footer at 18 for 61.
It was still a runaway, eight-shot crushing of the field, Woods included.
Molinari is already a world-class player — the obvious favorite going into Sunday — obviously more experienced than playing partner Abraham Ancer, who started the day tied with him but after a 62 of his own on Saturday, didn’t make a single birdie on Sunday — 16 pars, two bogeys and a tie for fourth with Woods.
Ancer had to feel like he was shooting 80 the way Molinari played in front of him.
Francesco was the 17th-ranked player in the world coming in to this week. He’ll make a jump, for sure.
Most of all, he made a big leap in the FedEx Cup standings. “It’s what I came here for,” he was quick to point out.
He still has more work to do.
There’s a lot of action in Europe to come — as in the Open Championship in a few weeks. He has the right kind of game for Carnoustie.
The way he played on Sunday, he has the right kind of game for any course, anywhere.
Magnifico — Perfetto — Bella!
Yeah, all of those, for sure.
