It all seemed over for Francesco Molinari. +7, two out from the cut on the 18th hole. A situation from which, normally, no one can recover. And instead he does it, with the most incredible of numbers: a hole in one, one that requires talent, but also a good dose of luck.
This mix made him a protagonist on the difficult Pinehurst No. 2, one of the most popular and yet most complex courses to tackle, and not by chance chosen for the third Major of the year. To give an idea, only twenty managed to stay under par during the first two rounds, with the leadership of the increasingly amazing Swede Ludvig Åberg.
For Chicco, however, the need to save himself to get to the weekend, an objective not achieved by his brother Edoardo and Matteo Manassero. And the bit of luck also means that, considering his start from the 10th hole and not the 1st, for him the 18th is actually the 9th, which is a par 3 of around 170 metres.
Golf, Aberg in the lead after two rounds of the US Open. Francesco Molinari makes the cut with a last-gasp hole-in-one!
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Hence, the miracle: a perfect tee shot, slightly to the left (from Chicco’s point of view), which lands with significant speed and with a trajectory that, slowly but surely, it goes straight into that hole where the flag is still found. Immediately afterwards, his traveling companions on the tour, the Spaniard, complimented him without hesitating for a moment Sergio Garcia and Japanese Ryo Ishikawa. This is a coup which leaves the Turin native even in the running for the Olympics, even if the road is very tough (he needs at least a top 12 in favorable conditions, but a top 10 is better).
It thus becomes Chicco’s second memorable hole-in-one, after the now famous one at the 2016 Phoenix Open on the 16th (where, when it happens, hundreds of beer cans no longer have owners because they are thrown onto the course from the large grandstands). Not only that: for numbers lovers, it’s the first time ever that someone made the cut thanks to a hole in one, or ace if you prefer, at the US Open. Furthermore, in the history of this tournament, it is the 53rd hole-in-one that has occurred, as well as the fourth at 9 at Pinehurst No. 2. And now for Francesco another former Major winner, Brooks Koepkawhich he doesn’t see often because the American (like Garcia) left the PGA Tour to enter the Arab super league LIV Golf.
A few hours earlier, the Austrian Sepp Straka he had in turn placed the hole in one always there. And, in the news, it is a short step from “Unless he pulls a Sepp Straka” to the actual occurrence of the event. Very short.
THE HOLE IN ONE THAT SAVED FRANCESCO MOLINARI AT THE US OPEN
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