HERO DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC

January 23, 2026

Francesco Molinari

Majlis Course at Emirates Golf Club

Press Conference

Q. Not quite the same fireworks as yesterday, but talk about the difference in the two days from your perspective.

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: It's always tough to follow a day like yesterday but I played solid. The putts didn't drop as much as yesterday. A lot of near misses.

But yeah, still happy with the back nine especially. I played solid all day. It would have been nice to hole a few more putts but hopefully keep that for the weekend.

Q. What do you say to yourself after that nine when things were not quite going your way?

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Not much. Just I was playing well, hitting the shots, and just to keep going.

So it was nice to see a couple of putts dropping on the back, not too many. But I'm rolling the ball nicely. 72 holes, you're going to get some spots where things just don't work, and yeah, just keep going and see what happens in the next two days.

Q. You're in a great position now heading into the weekend. You've been in this position many times in the past. How excited are you at the prospect?

FRANCESCO MOLINARI: It's been a while. So I don't know, we'll see how I react. I'm playing well. Hitting the ball well. Obviously it's very tricky. Today we were maybe expecting less wind but it was still breezy and it's tough. You need to hit fairways, hit greens.

So we'll see. I'm looking forward myself to see what happens at the weekend, yeah.