Francesco Molinari seeks more major credentials in PGA Championship

European Tour, 16 May 2019: Francesco Molinari is hoping to continue his impressive Major form at this week’s US PGA Championship, as The Open Champion prepares to once again tee it up alongside recently-crowned Masters winner Tiger Woods at Bethpage.

Francesco Molinari insists he has not finished improving his game as he looks to continue his excellent recent Major record at the US PGA Championship.

In his first 32 Majors, the Italian recorded just two top tens but has been in the top 25 at his last six, including his victory at last season’s Open Championship.

Before that maiden Major victory, the US PGA had been Molinari’s happiest hunting ground, making ten cuts out of ten and finishing second and sixth in the last two seasons.

His fantastic victory at the BMW PGA Championship 12 months ago kicked off a remarkable year for the 36-year-old, with four wins worldwide and his five points out of five as Europe regained the Ryder Cup.

But Molinari is hopeful that the best is yet to come as he arrives at Bethpage State Park BK Course ranked seventh in the Official World Golf Ranking.

“I feel very lucky to have been able to play this kind of golf in the last few months and to have wins coming as they have,” he said. “With every win comes a little more confidence.

“I’m aware that at some point it will probably stop but I’ll try to keep it going as long as possible.

“I hope this is not my peak. I think there’s more room for improvement but I think at the same time, in golf and in sports in general, you need to keep improving even just to stay where you are in the ranks.

“There are new players coming through all the time and more talent, so even just to maintain your level, you need to keep improving.

“Honestly, I don’t know how much I can improve. I know I can improve some but I can’t tell you if that’s going to be enough to improve results or improve my rankings or if that’s going to be just enough to maintain where I am at the moment.”

Molinari is renowned as one of the straightest hitters in the world of golf and while he believes that has helped him at US PGA Championships down the years, he knows the notoriously difficult Bethpage Black will provide a unique challenge.

“I hope this is not my peak. I think there’s more room for improvement,” emphasised Molinari.

“It’s usually important to hit fairways and hit greens and the kind of courses and layouts that this championship has been played on I think have suited my game well in the past. Hopefully I’ll keep that streak going this week.”

On this week’s venue he added: “Long, very long, and extremely long.

“It’s just a course where you need to hit the fairways but even if you do hit the fairways then there’s a long way to go. There’s not many short holes.

“I think probably 11 or 12 holes out of 18, you’d be extremely happy with par.

“The greens I think, as well, are going to make it very difficult. The greens are really fast, I think faster than anytime I’ve been here in the past and that’s obviously a big factor if you’re coming in with three woods and hybrids and four irons.”