Ryder Cup 2019 – Open champion Francesco Molinari admits that there is more pressure in the Ryder Cup

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And it was not just Carnoustie, for Molinari, but Carnoustie. It was he who was leading the standings with his first major on the line, playing a final day alongside Tiger Woods. It was he who went from golf to the big winner. It was he who needed an extra seat in the plane for the Claret jug. It was not just an emotion or an old experience. But then, despite everything, the Ryder Cup is at another level.

Molinari spoke for a few remarkable months of ESPN, which allowed him to clinch the BMW PGA Championship title, then win the Open, and then evaluate what awaits him. with his European compatriots at the Golf National. His voice takes a more serious turn by weighing the Ryder Cup. In short, recruits must prepare for unprecedented tension and be at the forefront of golf euphoria or desolation.

But the pressure is no longer an enemy for Molinari, who will be the only member of the European team this week to be a great champion. On the Molinari website is a section called "Meet the Team". He lists his manager, his coach, his caddy, his coach, his coach, his performance coach and his physio. While he was his youngest, Pello Iguaran Valle, he first hugged after putting his six-foot putt on the 18th at Carnoustie to take the lead of the club, with each team participating in this triumph. the familiar.

Molinari was 78th in the world when he met and named his coach Dave Alred a little over two years ago. Molinari is now fifth. "Often in professional golf and sports in general, the difference in the results can be huge, but the real difference in the process could be minimal," Molinari told ESPN in an introspective way.

Alred – who has worked with top rugby players Jonny Wilkinson and Johnny Sexton with Australian footballers – brings a coaching philosophy of pushing athletes into what he calls the "ugly zone", making training uncomfortable but responsible. Rather than hitting a bunch of golf shots and calling it for the day, he asks Molinari to hit 10 to 10 feet or do five kicks from six feet.

"One of the problems I have encountered, and similar to that of many golfers, is that the practice is repetitive, standing in one place trying to hit the target, several times or trying to find balls." I found it, "Molinari said. "I started from this type of practice, I'm more demanding to myself, I put a consequence to every shot, I try to achieve something and I try to recreate a feeling when we're under the pump and you need to produce a shot at a certain time – you would have no luck, so you have a chance or you're off. "

He missed the Cup at the Player Championship in May and then sat down with his team to determine exactly where things went wrong. The exact words of what has been said in this café remain private, but his coach, Denis Pugh, told ESPN that there was "a full and frank exchange on what was needed to keep moving forward".

Molinari remembers feeling that his golf was technically sound, but mentally he was gone. "I was not producing the right shot at the right time, I did not have sharpness or intensity," Molinari said. "I could shoot, but I could not do it when I needed it, so we changed the workout routines so that they became more demanding, mentally, and I got them. managed to get by better this week. " It's there that Alred has proven himself, along with his other coaches. This brain trusting event will prove to be a catalyst for him, starting for a series of triumphs, including the BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth within two weeks of their coffee encounter.

Pugh put Molinari's Carnin success to the "combined talents of the team of coaches and cadets, the Molinari team," of course, Francesco has also demonstrated his talent and application. " Molinari had learned to "apply his internal battles in a positive way … by channeling his instincts into a useful and calm thought," according to Pugh.

Phil Kenyon, Molinari coach, selected the final shot on August 18 as a shot where all his work had been accomplished. "It was really a proof," said Kenyon. "We spent a lot of time in weeks to build, six feet away, in the area of ​​incrustation. There were some putts at the beginning of the back 9 and they played a key role The momentum for the ups and downs. In the end, you have a half foot on the last, from right to left, and this putt was a testament to the work he had done and how far he had come this short time. "

Molinari is no longer allowed to remain anonymous, which he clings to when groups finalize their Open campaign. When he was confirmed as the winner, it was hardly like the scenes saluting Woods' first victory in five years in Atlanta on Sunday. Instead, Molinari was sitting in the hut of markers, alone, and simply felt relief.

"All the tension goes up but when I knew I had done it, the main feeling was the relief of this tension – it was a bit of a surprise or shock," Molinari said. "I've always wanted to earn a major but he came earlier than expected."