Francesco Molinari picked the absolute perfect time for a hole-in-one.
Molinari walked up to No. 9 at Pinehurst No. 2 on Friday afternoon sitting at 7-over for the week, two shots outside of the projected cutline at the U.S. Open. His week, as he started on the back nine, was just about done.
Then, of course, Molinari played the final hole in the best way possible. He carded an ace.
Morlinari couldn’t believe it, either. He was left stunned on the tee box as everyone in his group realized what had happened.
«You have a thought, knowing it’s the last chance you have,» Molinari said. «I just bogeyed 8. I was hoping I was able to par 8 and then having to make two at 9. With that flag, if you hit a good shot, you can get it within birdie range, but when I dropped a shot at 8, but then yes, standing on the 9th tee it was just put a good swing on it and see what happens.
«But the chances are incredibly small, so I don’t know what to say.»
The ace was the second of the day on the hole, too. Sepp Straka pulled out a similar shot in the early wave.
Thanks to the hole-in-one, Molinari posted a 2-over 72 on Friday. That pushed him to 5-over on the week, which was good enough to make the cut.
Molinari, 41, has won three times in his career on the PGA Tour. He won the British Open in 2018, too. He’s struggled in recent months, however, and he’s missed the cut in all but two of his eight starts entering this week in North Carolina. His best finish came at The Players Championship in March, when he went T54. Molinari has won six times on the DP World Tour, too. He entered this week ranked No. 324 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
Though he’s well out of contention — the leaders were more than 10 shots ahead of Molinari at the time of his ace, and he finished with a 7-over 77 on Saturday to drop way down the leaderboard — the shot on Friday night will undoubtedly go down as one of the best of his career.
