Francesco Molinari's Masters Meltdown: How It Fell Spectacularly Apart

We look at how Molinari's Augusta challenge fell spectacularly apart with a devastating stretch on yet another dramatic final nine holes at the Masters.

Francesco Molinari's Masters Meltdown: How It Fell Spectacularly Apart

With a two shot lead, there was no need to take on the flag, a safer target further left would surely have been smarter.

To his credit, he bounced back quickly with an impressive two-putt birdie on 13. Where many have compounded the initial error in the past, so Molinari gathered himself to regain a share of the lead.

The Italian’s next mistake came with a pushed drive on 15. In the pine straw and stymied behind the trees, he was forced to play for position but missed the fairway to the left.

A relatively straight-forward (by Augusta’s standards, at least) pitch resulted in disaster.

The ball shot up off the blade of his wedge and struck an overhanging branch that he clearly hadn’t previously noticed.

Taking all pace off the shot, the ball barely made it half way across the water. In that moment, his chances were gone.

Winning any golf tournament is hard but the Masters takes the self-doubt all golfers battle with and amplifies it.

Molinari’s mistakes were small and in truth probably wouldn’t have cost him so badly in other major Championships.

But the Masters is a different beast.

As he reached Amen Corner, his game was not as strong as it had been earlier in the week. Those niggling self-doubts were exposed and Molinari looked fallible for the first time.

Another chapter in the legend of this historic sporting landscape had been written.

The next player to stand on the 12^th tee with the lead on Sunday afternoon will have to contend with images of yet another player to have fallen foul of this place.

Getting over the line at Augusta National, it seems, gets harder and harder.

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In July 2023, Neil became just the 9th editor in Golf Monthly's 112-year history. Originally working with the best coaches in the UK to produce instruction content, he went on to become a feature writer interviewing many of the biggest names in the game including Tiger Woods, Seve Ballesteros, Rory McIlroy and Arnold Palmer.

A 5-handicap golfer, Neil is a club member who takes a keen interest in the health of the game at grassroots level. You’ll often now find him writing about club-related issues such as WHS, membership retention and how best to bridge the gap between the range and the course.