ITALIAN OPEN

September 14, 2022

Francesco Molinari

Marco Simone Golf & Country Club

Quick Quotes

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Playing the Italian open is always special, especially for someone like me who has had success in the past at The Italian Open. Yeah, I won my second year as a pro for the first time, and have always loved playing here in front of my home crowds, and looking forward to another good week this week?

Q. The crowds were super excited when you won The Italian Open. With The Ryder Cup coming here as well, I suppose it's good to see how passionate these Italians fans can get.

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, I think obviously with the very strong field that we have this year, I think that the crowds will be big. We are starting to kind of realize what's going to happen next year, which is going to be massive to The Ryder Cup here in Rome. You can definitely start to breathe in the atmosphere and I'm sure the crowds will respond accordingly.

Q. How well do you think this place will be to host the event?

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, they have done a good job with the course. I just heard that Luke Donald compared it to Celtic Manor. I think there are some similarities. I think it's going to be better for the crowds. There are some really nice, natural amphitheatres around some greens. It's not that big of a property, so many holes are next to each other which obviously helps with the atmosphere at The Ryder Cup.

I think it's going to be amazing and obviously it will be great to be here and be a part of it.

Q. How eager are you to make that team with it being a home Ryder Cup as well?

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, I would love it. I would love it. I think being at The Ryder Cup, I can imagine it's probably not easy to play at home. It's obviously not an easy event to play anywhere, and at home, even more. The excitement and adrenaline are unique, so to have a chance to play in front of your own fans and in your own country, it's incredible.

Q. Obviously a long way to go until next year but how confident are you in your own game at the moment and how much are you looking forward to playing this week?

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, like you said, there's a very long way to go. I think I'm working well and I've worked well the last few weeks at home. So the game feels like it's trending nicely. It's maybe not yet where I would like it to be but it's definitely moving in the right direction. So yeah, I'll do my best hopefully from now on until next year to make the team and be a part of hopefully a European winning team here in Marco Simone.