Francesco Molinari - 'I Needed Distance To Stand A Chance'
The Italian told a story of how playing with Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson in 2014 made him realise he needed to hit the ball further to compete
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The Italian told a story of how playing with Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson in 2014 made him realise he needed to hit the ball further to compete
Francesco Molinari - 'I Needed Distance To Stand A Chance'
Francesco Molinari comes into this week's Masters in the form of his life, after a career-best 2018 that saw him win his first Major and win all five of his matches at the Ryder Cup.
The Italian has cemented himself as one of the world's greatest players right now, and part of that is down to improvements across the board along with a substantial increase in distance.
His mental game has improved with help from Dave Alred, his putting has improved with the help of Phil Kenyon and his swing has improved with the help of Denis Pugh.
With some specific swing training and some specific body training, Molinari has been able to unlock added distance in the past 18 months, which has helped him become one of golf's best players.
He averaged over 300 yards on the PGA Tour in 2018 for the first time in his career, up almost 25 yards on his 2012 total.
So why did Francesco work hard to increase his distance? Quite simply because he had to.
"I didn't stand a chance," he said at Augusta National ahead of the Masters.
He told an interesting story of when he realised he needed some more yards...
"I remember when we played The Open at Royal Liverpool [2014] on the Saturday, I played in the last round with Rory and Dustin, I think it was the third round, yeah, and I just didn't have a chance," he said.
"I could play as well as I wanted but I didn't stand a chance. That was I think a big turning point for me. It's all about perspective and how you take things.
"I took it like, if I want to keep doing this job and do it at a high level, I need to work as hard as I can and see if I can get closer to those guys.
"So what that did for me is now when I go out, play with Brooks or Dustin or Rory or whoever you can name, and I'm not really intimidated, because I feel like I can compete with them, even if I'm not hitting the ball 370 yards.
"I'm hitting it long enough to be competitive and to use my strengths to get good performances in."
Related: US Masters golf betting tips 2019
Molinari goes into this week's tournament as the World Number 7 in search of Major No.2.
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Elliott Heath is our Senior Staff Writer and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news, features, courses and travel sections as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. Elliott has interviewed some huge names in the golf world including Sergio Garcia, Thomas Bjorn, Bernd Wiesberger and Scotty Cameron as well as a number of professionals on the DP World and PGA Tours. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as four Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays at West Byfleet Golf Club in Surrey, where his handicap index floats anywhere between 2-6. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!
Elliott is currently playing:
Driver: Titleist TSR4
3 wood: TaylorMade SIM2 Max
Hybrid: TaylorMade SIM Max
Irons: Mizuno MP5 4-PW
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
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