British Open Recap: Molinari Triumphs

Francesco Molinari could look a few holes ahead and see major champions Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy making a charge. He could look behind him and see Jordan Spieth in his bid to repeat as Open champion. And he could look right next to him to see – and hear – perhaps the most imposing figure of all: Tiger Woods, who was electrifying the gallery with a Sunday charge we hadn't seen in years.

Everywhere Molinari looked on the golf course and on the leaderboard at the 147th Open Championship, greatness abounded. He never wavered. He never flinched. Even in gusty winds, as the beast known as Carnoustie finally showed its teeth. Even after Woods actually took the lead on the back nine, moving the golf world to the precipice of DEFCON 1.

Molinari shot a near-flawless, bogey-free round of golf in the most difficult of conditions on Sunday to become the first Italian in the history to win a major golf championship. He shot a 2-under 69, including an exclamation point of a birdie on 18, to defeat Rose and McIlroy, plus the gallant Xander Schauffele and tenacious Kevin Kisner, by two strokes.

Woods, playing alongside Molinari, ended in a three-way tie for sixth, his best showing in a major in five years and more than a decade after his 14th major title. With two birdies on the front nine, he had forged a one-shot lead and Molinari had a front-row seat in the cauldron.

"I've played with him before in Ryder Cups, in big occasions, so I knew what was coming and I was ready for it," Molinari said afterward, seated alongside the Claret Jug that now bears his name.

"Clearly, in my group, the attention wasn't really on me, let's put it that way. If someone was expecting a charge, probably they weren't expecting it from me. But it's been the same the whole of my career."

Molinari is now 35 and surely had had a respectable career, with four wins, one of them a WGC, even before going on a recent summer surge. He's been on two winning Ryder Cup teams. But he had never won a major; in fact, he had had only three top-10s in 35 previous tries. But something clicked about two months ago, when he suddenly won two tournaments, one on the PGA Tour and one in Europe, and also finished second in two others within a five-event span. Still, golfers go on hot streaks all the time – okay, maybe not that hot – only to fall on their face when the spotlight shines brightest.

Not Molinari. He played decently over the first two rounds and then kicked it to a different level on the weekend. He normally is a tee-to-green machine, but the difference this week, according to Woods and others, was Molinari's recently elevated short game. That's how he played the final two rounds without a blemish on his scorecard. Even though Carnoustie was not quite as "Car-nasty" as if often it is, this was a monumental achievement. No one else did it.

"To go the weekend bogey-free, it's unthinkable, to be honest," said the Champion Golfer of the Year and winner of the gold medal. "Very proud of today, very proud of what we did. Playing with Tiger was another challenge because of the crowds and everything."

Woods took a lead onto the back-nine, only to stumble with a double bogey on 11 and a bogey on 12. Then on 14, McIlroy rolled in a bomb of an eagle putt from halfway to Glasgow and suddenly six guys were tied for the lead. Carnoustie was ready to erupt into the North Sea.

But nothing fazed Molinari. He played his own game, methodically parring the first 13 holes before he birdied the par-5 14th and then, finally, the par-4 18th.

"That putt on the last, I'll never forget," he said.

Molinari is now a major champion, his country's first. He's up to a career-best No. 6 in the world. And after being surrounded by all the greatness on the golf course, he now is part of that greatness forever more.

"To look at the names on that Claret Jug," Molinari said, glancing to his right. "What can you say? It's the best golfers in history. It's incredible. For someone like me, coming from Italy, not really a major golfing country, it's been an incredible journey."

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Tiger Woods
If nothing else, it's clear Woods can win again. Maybe not this season – he has no more than six events left – but at some point. He was in the lead on the back-nine of a major and still had a chance until Molinari's final brilliant approach on 18. When was the last time we could say that? It was a glorious day for Woods, for golf fans. Really, for all of golf. With his three-way tie for sixth, Woods snuck into the top-50 in the world by the slimmest of margins, and the magnitude of that cannot be overstated. He thus has qualified for the WGC-Bridgestone in two weeks at a course, Firestone, where he has won eight times before. So maybe Woods will win before the season ends. We'll all surely be watching.

Jordan Spieth
Spieth looked solid with the lead early on Sunday. But then he made a fatal mistake resulting in a double bogey on the par-5 sixth. Even then, many of us thought he'd be okay. After all, he's Jordan Spieth. He wound up in a tie for ninth following his worst final round ever at a major, a 5-over 76. Spieth still hasn't won since last year at Royal Birkdale. This was his best showing since third at the Masters. Which tells us that amid all the struggles of the past year – he's now down to No. 8 in the world – Spieth is still capable of coming up large at the biggest moments. And we'll probably see a win soon, even before the end of the season.

Rory McIlroy
It's now been almost four years since McIlroy won a major. At some point you wonder when and if an athlete's window will close. McIlroy is only 29, so there's plenty of time. But he hasn't been able to convert any major close calls recently. And he's had a few since winning the 2014 PGA Championship. This was his fifth top-10 in his last 10 majors, including his second this year. McIlroy didn't kick this one away as he did at Augusta, so he left Carnoustie feeling good about how he played.

Xander Schauffele
About 13 months ago, not too many golf followers had even heard of Schauffele. Then he tied for fifth at the U.S. Open. Three weeks later, he won the Greenbrier. Then he tied for 20th at the Open Championship. Then he won the Tour Championship. This year, he tied for sixth at the U.S. Open. And now he shared second at Carnoustie. That's a long-winded way of saying that Schauffele, still only 24, is on a fast track to greatness, including major titles. He was the last man standing to challenge Molinari, actually tied with the Italian until a final, fatal bogey on 17. Schauffele is up to a career-best 18th in the world, but in truth, he's even better than that. Don't sleep on Schauffele at the Bridgestone, PGA Championship or playoffs.

Kevin Kisner
On one hand, Kisner was again in position to win a major and again didn't close the deal. He faced a lot of adversity on Sunday, all of his own doing, but continued to fight back, ending in that four-way tie for second. On the other hand, Kisner is proving to be tenacious and a factor in big tournaments, much like he was last year at the U.S. Open. We're not saying, as we did with Schauffele, that a major is definitely in his future. But at 34, Kisner is playing his best golf and will continue to be on important leaderboards on Sundays. And he'll probably be at the Ryder Cup in Paris, where he likely will again show Europeans how much of a bulldog he is.

Danny Willett
Willett tied for 24th with Phil Mickelson and others. Just a few weeks back, the thought of Willett making the cut, much less finishing top-25, was unimaginable. The former Masters champion has somehow rediscovered his game in the past two months, with two top-10s and now two other top-25s. He had fallen from inside the top-10 to outside the top-450. Willett is now No. 265, and for the first time in a long while, he's more of a DFS option than a punch line.

Justin Thomas
Thomas has been No. 1 in the world. He's won a major. He's won a FedEx Cup title. But there's something about the Open Championship that doesn't jibe with his game. Thomas missed the cut for the second straight year, after debuting in 2016 with a tie for 53rd. For a lot of guys, such as Phil Mickelson, it takes years to figure out links golf. Thomas will surely get somewhat better in Opens – he's only 25 – and we imagine he will make it a real priority for next year. This trunk-slam cost him in the rankings, overtaken for No. 2 by Justin Rose.

Jon Rahm
We keep saying that Rahm is only 23. But he's now played eight majors as a professional and has only one top-25. He missed the cut on Friday, after blowing up with a three-hole stretch of triple-bogey-double. We didn't see any overt temper bursts as we have with Rahm in the past. But until he gets that better under control, he will always be one bad shot away from potentially kicking away a big tournament.