Pga Tour, Molinari eliminated in Mexico Open

Francesco Molinari experiences another early exit on the PGA Tour. At Vallarta, in the Mexico Open, the tournament for the Turin native concluded after 36 holes. Despite a second round of 70 (-1), featuring four birdies and three bogeys for a total score of 144 (74 70, +2) strokes, he was eliminated from the competition. The opportunity for redemption for the Piedmontese golfer will come from February 29th to March 3rd at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches, Florida.

Francesco Molinari, results

At the Vidanta Vallarta Golf Club (par 71), there is a tight battle at the top where Mexican Alvaro Ortiz (67 64) leads the leaderboard alongside Englishman Matt Wallace (66 65), Finn Sami Valimaki (64 67), and American Jake Knapp (67 64). The four leaders, with a total of 131 (-11), are one stroke ahead of South African Erik Van Rooyen, who sits in 5th place with 132 (-10) and was the sole leader after the first 18 holes. The Mexico Open, now in its 64th edition, offers a prize purse of $8,100,000.

In 2006, he won the Italian Open, becoming the first Italian to do so since Massimo Mannelli in 1980. In 2009, he and his brother Edoardo won the World Cup of Golf, marking the first time an Italian pair secured the trophy.

From October 1st to 4th, 2010, he was part of the European team, along with his brother Edoardo, that captured the Ryder Cup at the Celtic Manor Resort in Wales. While it wasn’t the first time two brothers competed together in the event, it was the first time their team emerged victorious. In November 2010, he claimed the HSBC Champions, his first World Golf Championships tournament title. Molinari clinched victory by one stroke over the then-world number one Lee Westwood, leading from start to finish. This win earned him €860,153 and the 14th spot in the World Golf Ranking.

From September 28th to 30th, 2012, he was part of the European team that won the Ryder Cup at the Medinah Country Club near Chicago. His final-day draw against Tiger Woods secured Europe’s 14.5 points and victory in the competition. If Francesco had lost the match, the European team would have drawn but still retained the cup as the defending champions.

A hundred years after its inaugural edition, Francesco clinched the Reale Seguros Open de España, rallying from 4th place on the final day with a 65 (-7 under par), the best round of the tournament. With this victory, he became the second Italian golfer with the most wins on the European Tour, trailing Costantino Rocca by two victories.

In 2016, he won the Italian Open for the second time. In 2018, he claimed the BMW PGA Championship, the most prestigious tournament on the European Tour, and the following week finished second by just one stroke at the Italian Open, a result that temporarily propelled him to the number one spot in the Race to Dubai. In July of the same year, he also secured his first victory in a PGA Tour event, becoming the first Italian since 1947 to triumph in an American tour event with his win at the Quicken Loans National, held annually in Maryland. On the 22nd of the same month, he was crowned champion of the Open Championship in Scotland at the Carnoustie Golf Links, becoming the first Italian golfer to win one of the four Major tournaments.

On September 30, 2018, at Le Golf National in Guyancourt, near Paris, he won his third Ryder Cup, contributing five points out of five matches played, the first European golfer to achieve this feat in the history of the prestigious tournament.

On March 10, 2019, he became the champion of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.