Edoardo Molinari powers to Gleneagles victory - and Ryder destiny
Edoardo Molinari pulled off an audacious victory at the Johnnie Walker Championship yesterday - and in so doing, also guaranteed himself a spot on the European Ryder Cup team.
Molinari had already declared that should he win at Gleneagles, captain Colin Montgomerie would be remiss if he failed to grant the Italian one of three wildcard places for Celtic Manor. Having made such a passionate claim, the 29-year-old still faced the difficult task of actually winning the tournament, of course - and Molinari didn't slip up.
Trailing Australian Brett Rumford with three to play, Molinari won by a single stroke after birdying each of the final three holes, two-putting the lengthy 16th, and putting away a 30ft putt on the 17th before chipping to less than two feet from the 18th to make the putt.
That saw the Italian finish 10-under-par to hold off the second placed Rumford, with Wales' Jamie Donaldson tying for third place with Spain's Miguel Angel Jiménez and Molinari's brother Francesco, both of whom had automatically qualified for the Ryder Cup.
The brothers already have form as a team, taking victory at last year's World Cup in China. Now the pair have the opportunity to reprise that winning partnership in Wales in October, after Monty confirmed Edoardo would accompany his sibling as part of the 12-man team.
"What can one say about his performance today?" Montgomerie asked as he confirmed the Italian would join fellow wildcard selections Luke Donald and Padraig Harrington. "In my time on the European Tour, over 24 years, I have never seen a finish like that. All credit to him, having to win and doing just that."
The pair are the first brothers to appear in the competition since Bernard and Geoff Hunt represented Great Britain in 1963. And the elder Molinari brother was clearly delighted. "I would have been happy a year ago to have enough money to keep my card by this time," he said.
"Colin told me he was proud of what I had done and I said 'thank you very much and I can't wait to get to Wales.' It was quite an emotional moment for me because this means I will be playing with my brother and that is something that is almost unreal.
"For two brothers to be playing in the Ryder Cup - at that level of sport - is an amazing achievement.”
Molinari also suggested that it was only outright victory that saw him make the team, revealing: "I could tell from the way he said it that if I had finished second then it wouldn't have been good enough."
The victory has also pushed Molinari's ranking up to 15th in the world. But while it was all good news for the Italian, spare a thought for those who missed out on a place on the team. Of the players touted as challengers for the three wildcard places, world No. 8 Paul Casey and Justin Rose lost out, despite Rose enjoying two victories on the PGA tour this summer.
Attention now shifts to the USA, where US captain Corey Pavin will announced his four wildcard picks for Celtic Manor a week on Tuesday.
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