Edoardo Molinari (born 11 February 1981) is an Italian professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, where he is a three-time winner. He was also the 2005

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

champion; 2009

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour, currently titled as the HotelPlanner Tour for sponsorship reasons and also sometimes referred to as the European Challenge Tour, is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European To ...

Rankings leader; winner, with his brother

Francesco Francesco, the Italian language, Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis (given name), Francis", is one of the List of most popular given names, most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name inclu ...

, of the 2009

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

; and a member of the 2010 European

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States, with hosting duties alternating between venues in Europe and the United States for each edition. The cup is named after the English businessman S ...

winning team. He has won professional tournaments on four of the six continents on which golf is played: Europe, South America, Africa and Asia. He is a vice-captain for the 2023 Ryder Cup in Marco Simone, Italy.

Early life

Molinari was born in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

to Micaela, a now retired architect, and Paolo Molinari, a dentist. He began to accompany his father to the golf course at age eight. Molinari speaks fluent English and Spanish in addition to Italian. Molinari is nicknamed "Dodo" because his younger brother, Francesco, could not pronounce "Edoardo" as a child.

Amateur career

During a distinguished amateur career, Molinari won several national championships. The undisputed highlight of his amateur career came in 2005, when he became the first Italian and the first Continental European to win the

. He claimed the title by holing a 25-foot birdie putt on the 33rd hole to win 4 & 3 over the American Dillon Dougherty. As a result of that victory, Molinari qualified to play in the 2006 U.S. Masters, U.S. Open and

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

. His younger brother

, who is also a professional golfer, caddied for him at that year's Masters. Molinari graduated from the

Polytechnic University of Turin The Polytechnic University of Turin (, abbreviated as PoliTO) is the oldest Italian Public university, public Institute of technology, technical university. The university offers several courses in the fields of Engineering, Architecture, Urban ...

with a degree in engineering.

Professional career

In 2006, Molinari turned professional. In 2007 he won the Club Colombia Masters and the Tusker Kenya Open on Europe's developmental

. The two victories and his consistent play led to a 16th-place finish on the season-long money list. That success enabled him to play on the top level European Tour during the 2008 season. Molinari's play was uneven during that season due to a wrist injury, and he was unable to retain his playing privileges in 2009.

2009

Molinari returned to the Challenge Tour in 2009, where he was again successful, earning his third professional title at the Piemonte Open in May, in his home town of Turin. He also won the Kazakhstan Open in September and the Italian Federation Cup in October. He also came 2nd in the Club Colombia Masters, the Scottish Hydro Challenge, the Trophée du Golf de Genève and the ECCO Tour Championship. He topped the Challenge Tour money list in 2009 with record earnings of €242,979, almost €100,000 more than the previous high total. On 22 November 2009, Molinari won the highly regarded Dunlop Phoenix Tournament in Miyazaki by defeating 2008 European Tour Order of Merit winner Robert Karlsson of Sweden by sinking a four-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole after the two tied in regulation play. Molinari was the first Italian winner on the Japan Golf Tour. On 29 November 2009, Molinari partnered with his younger brother Francesco to lead Italy to their first

win at the Omega Mission Hills World Cup outside Shanghai, China. Edoardo leapt joyously around the 18th green after sinking the winning putt. This was the first win in the event by brothers and the first Italian victory in the event, generating significant coverage in the Molinari brothers' homeland. During 2009, Molinari's

Official World Golf Ranking The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolling ...

rose from 753 to 48.

2010

On 29 March 2010, Molinari earned his best finish on the U.S.

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

, finishing second by two shots to South African Ernie Els at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and earning his then largest check of $528,000US. Molinari holed a 50-foot putt on the 17th hole of the final round that was selected as "Shot of the Day" by NBC, the US network covering the tournament. On 11 July 2010, Molinari won his first European Tour tournament, claiming the Barclays Scottish Open at

Loch Lomond Loch Lomond (; ) is a freshwater Scottish loch which crosses the Highland Boundary Fault (HBF), often considered the boundary between the lowlands of Central Scotland and the Highlands.Tom Weir. ''The Scottish Lochs''. pp. 33-43. Published by ...

by three strokes over Darren Clarke.

Francesco Molinari Francesco Molinari (born 8 November 1982) is an Italian professional golfer. He won the 2018 Open Championship, his first and only major victory, and the first major won by an Italian professional golfer. The Open Championship win capped a suc ...

played alongside his brother and Clarke in the final threesome. Following Franceso's win in the 2006 Italian Open, Edoardo's victory in Scotland made the pair the third brothers to win on the European Tour after Seve and

Manuel Ballesteros Manuel Ballesteros Sota (born 22 June 1949) is a Spanish professional golfer. He is best known as a European Tour champion as well as being the former manager and brother of Seve Ballesteros. Early life Ballesteros was born in the summer of 194 ...

and

Antonio Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan language, Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language–speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top ...

and Germán Garrido. On 29 August 2010, Molinari won his second European Tour title, the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, by one stroke from Australian Brett Rumford, after birdieing the final three holes. Molinari's brother Francesco once again was paired with the eventual champion in the final round. Shortly afterwards, European

captain Colin Montgomerie named Molinari as one of his three "wild card" selections for the 2010 matches at Celtic Manor in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, along with

Pádraig Harrington Pádraig Peter Harrington (born 31 August 1971) is an Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has won three men's major golf championships, major championships: The Open Championship in 2 ...

and

Luke Donald Luke Campbell Donald Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 7 December 1977) is an English professional golfer and former List of World Number One male golfers, world number one. He plays mainly on the U.S.-based PGA Tour but is also a member of ...

. Molinari's brother Francesco also earned a place on the European team through the points list. The Molinaris were the first brothers to compete together in a Ryder Cup side since Bernard and Geoffrey Hunt played for the Great Britain and Ireland side in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

. Molinari's successful 2010 campaign saw him rise to a career-high of fourteenth in the

. Molinari finished the 2010 season ranked 11th on the Race to Dubai, formerly known as the European Tour Order of Merit. He finished the year ranked 18th in the world.

2011

Molinari spent the first half of the year racking up middle of the pack finishes, with an 11th-place finish at Augusta as his lone highlight. He noted that "I know my progress this season has not been so good, but the time that I have spent on the PGA Tour in America has been a positive experience" in an essay he wrote as a special Open Championship correspondent for ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''. Molinari finished the 2011 season ranked 46 on the Race to Dubai with earnings of 686,391 Euros from 21 events. A quarter of his earnings came through his season best finish of fifth at the Barclays Singapore Open. Molinari fell out of the world ranking top 50 by the end of the season.

2012

An old injury to Molinari's left wrist led to tendonitis and ultimately required tendon surgery in June. His 2012 campaign was interrupted by a three-month layoff with Molinari returning to action at the BMW Italian Open in September. He achieved only one top-10 finish on the European Tour, sixth at the Trophée Hassan II, and qualified for only one major, the

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply the Masters, or as the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four men's major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week in April, the Masters is the ...

. Molinari dropped to 86th on the 2012 Race to Dubai with earnings of 280,976 Euros from 17 events. He fell out of the top 200 of the Official World Golf Ranking, as well. Molinari set a goal of fully rehabilitating his left wrist for the 2013 season.

2013

Molinari started the 2013 European Tour season with a series of missed cuts, but on 24 March, he obtained a strong second place at the

Maybank Malaysian Open The Malaysian Open is a men's professional golf tournament that is currently played on the Asian Tour, and was formerly played on the European Tour. Notable past winners include world number one golfers Vijay Singh and Lee Westwood (both playe ...

. The prize won (233,604 Euros) allowed him to enter the Race to Dubai ranked 29th. Scoring a solid 68 (4 under par) in the final round, Molinari finished the Open de España tied for 27th position. At the 2013 BMW PGA Championship, won by his countrymate

Matteo Manassero Matteo Manassero (born 19 April 1993) is an Italian professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour. In 2010, he became the youngest golfer to win a European Tour event. His most notable victory to date was in the 2013 BMW PGA Championshi ...

, Molinari finished T19 with two consecutive birdies on the 71st and 72nd holes. He had to withdraw from the BMW International Open and the Irish Open for persistent pain in his left thumb.

2014

In November 2013, after recovering from a new surgery, Molinari began his 2014 European Tour comeback campaign in South Africa where he ended T52 at the South African Open Championship. He made his first cut since the

BMW PGA Championship The BMW PGA Championship is an annual men's professional golf tournament on the European Tour. It was founded in 1955 by the Professional Golfers' Association (Great Britain & Ireland), Professional Golfers' Association, and originally called the ...

played in May 2013. At the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship on 19 January 2014, he finished T28 after four consecutive under-par rounds (70-71-71-71) which earned him a final score of −5. He earned him his first top-10 of the season at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic (T9) and moved to 64th place in the Race to Dubai rankings. After that, he had a good period of form with three consecutive cuts made at the Joburg Open (T37) and Tshwane Open (T10) in South Africa and at the Trophée Hassan II (T25) in Morocco, respectively. During the next following months he played in a very consistent fashion, with multiple cuts made in a row, a period culminating in a second place at the Irish Open behind

Mikko Ilonen Mikko Ilonen (born 18 December 1979) is a retired Finland, Finnish professional golfer who played on the European Tour, winning five times. He is considered to be the most successful golfer from Finland. Career Ilonen was born in Lahti, Finland. ...

of Finland and in his best finish so far (T7) at

. Another solid display at the Wales Open, where he finished T4, gave him a total of 787.855 Euros. He ended the Race to Dubai in 40th place and won a total of €915,070, the second best European Tour final position and prize of his career to date.

2015

Molinari started reasonably well his 2015 European Tour campaign with 6 cuts made out of 8 participations, with the highest position he occupied represented by his T15 finish at the Tshwane Open; however a slump of form in the final part of the season, with eight consecutive missed cuts, cost him his European Tour card. In November 2015 he promptly regained his European Tour membership with a 24th place at the 2015 European Tour Qualifying School.

2016

His

2016 European Tour The 2016 European Tour was the 45th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972. Changes for 2016 Rule changes For the 2016 season, the European Tour modified its membership requireme ...

campaign was not particularly brilliant (only 13 cuts made out of 27 participations) and at the end of season he found himself in 148th position (prize won 132,580 Euros) in the Race to Dubai rankings, losing again his European Tour card. However, for a second consecutive year he was able to promptly regain his European Tour membership with a T2 place at the 2016 European Tour Qualifying School. Molinari is now working with Irish caddie Colin Byrne, who has earned 20 wins with other golfers such as South African major champion Retief Goosen.

Personal life

In spring 2012, he married his longtime girlfriend, Anna Roscio, at a church ceremony in Turin. Roscio caddied for Molinari at the 2010

Masters Par-3 Tournament The Masters Tournament Par 3 Contest is a golf competition that precedes the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. The first Par 3 Contest was held before the 1960 Masters Tournament, 1960 tournament, and was won b ...

. Denis Pugh, of London, serves as a swing coach to both Molinari brothers. He postponed retirement to work with the Molinari brothers, and he helped to rebuild Edoardo's swing, moving from hitting predominantly draws to fading the ball. He continues to live in Turin and to represent his home club, Circolo Golf Torino. His interests include the

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

Football (soccer) club and the Internet. He is considered one of the most emotional players on the European Tour and one of the most attractive players on the tour. He is also considered very popular with his fellow competitors on tour, many of whom advocated his selection to the 2010 European

team.

Amateur wins

*1996 English Boys Under 16 Championship (

McGregor Trophy The McGregor Trophy is the English Boys Under 16 Open Amateur Stroke-Play Championship. It was founded in 1982. History The event was founded as a boys' golf tournament in 1982 at the Radcliffe-on-Trent Golf Club by Roy Case, later to become pre ...

) *2001 Italian Amateur Championship *2002 Italian Amateur Foursomes Championship (with

) *2003 Turkish Amateur Open Championship *2004 Italian Amateur Foursomes Championship (with Francesco Molinari) *2005

Professional wins (10)

European Tour wins (3)

European Tour playoff record (1–0)

Japan Golf Tour wins (1)

Japan Golf Tour playoff record (1–0)

Challenge Tour wins (5)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

Tour de las Américas The Tour de las Américas (TLA) was the principal men's professional golf tour throughout Latin America and the Caribbean from 2000 through to 2012 when it was superseded by the PGA Tour Latinoamérica. History Top level tournament golf in Lat ...

Challenge Tour playoff record (1–0)

Other wins (1)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = no tournament due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 10 (2010 U.S. Open – 2014 PGA) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (2014 Open Championship)

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut

Results in World Golf Championships

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied

Team appearances

Amateur * European Boys' Team Championship (representing Italy): 1998, 1999 *

Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958 Eisenhower Trophy, 1958, it is nam ...

(representing Italy):

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

* Jacques Léglise Trophy (representing the Continent of Europe): 1998 * European Youths' Team Championship (representing Italy): 2000 * European Amateur Team Championship (representing Italy):

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

* Bonallack Trophy (representing Europe): 2002, 2004 * St Andrews Trophy (representing the Continent of Europe): 2004 Professional *

(representing Italy):

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

(winners),

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

(representing Europe):

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

(winners) * Royal Trophy (representing Europe):

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Ryder Cup points record

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Molinari, Edoardo Italian male golfers European Tour golfers Ryder Cup competitors for Europe Sportspeople from Turin 1981 births Living people 21st-century Italian sportsmen