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The 147th Open 2018 / Carnoustie
Francesco Molinari continued his stellar 2018 season by winning his first major at The Open after a titanic final-round battle at Carnoustie.
A new Carnoustie record of 172,000 spectators were enthralled by events during The 147th Open, culminating in Italy’s first winner of the Claret Jug and indeed any major.
Molinari was paired with Tiger Woods on the final day, starting three shots behind a trio of Americans atop the leaderboard.
And the Turin native became the 2018 Champion Golfer of the Year after a final-round 69 for an 8-under-par total of 276.
His bogey-free play over the weekend over the Angus links will go down as one of the most consistent performances in the history of The Open.
While the recent history of Carnoustie has often involved players faltering late on in pursuit of the Championship, Molinari’s performance was much closer aligned to Gary Player (1968) and Ben Hogan (1953).
His closing birdie ensured that he clinched the Claret Jug by two shots from Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy, Kevin Kisner and Xander Schauffele.
In his opening remarks on becoming Champion Golfer of the Year, the 35-year-old said:
His closing birdie ensured that he clinched the Claret Jug by two shots from Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy, Kevin Kisner and Xander Schauffele.
In his opening remarks on becoming Champion Golfer of the Year, the 35-year-old said:
“What a week! It is incredible to stand here and I should thank all my family for the support they give me when I travel all around the world. This golf course was incredible, the R&A did an amazing job of setting it up.” Francesco Molinari
"I have been beaten up around here in the past and I don't like that feeling. To play the weekend bogey-free around here is impressive."
This win eclipsed Molinari's previous career-high finish of second in a major at the PGA Championship in 2017.
The Italian made The Open the ninth tournament win of his career, a CV which includes the BMW PGA Championship and the WGC HSBC Champions event.
Justin Rose shot the best round of the week – a 64 on Saturday to get himself into contention – while Zander Lombard of South Africa became the first man to eagle the difficult finishing hole at Carnoustie on the same day.
A product of 1999 Champion Golfer Paul Lawrie’s academy, Sam Locke, followed in the footsteps of Rory McIlroy to win the Silver Medal as the leading amateur.
The 147th Open in pictures
Name
Finish
R1
R2
R3
R4
Total
Par
Kevin CHAPPELL
T6
70
69
67
73
279
-5
Ryan MOORE
T12
68
73
69
71
281
-3
Pat PEREZ
T17
69
68
74
71
282
-2
Charley HOFFMAN
T17
71
70
68
73
282
-2
Julian SURI
T28
74
69
70
71
284
-
Austin COOK
T28
72
70
67
75
284
-
Satoshi KODAIRA
T35
72
71
68
74
285
1
Ross FISHER
T39
75
70
68
73
286
2
Kyle STANLEY
T39
72
69
69
76
286
2
Brendan STEELE
T47
68
76
73
70
287
3
Yuta IKEDA
T51
70
73
71
74
288
4
Jason DUFNER
T51
75
70
68
75
288
4
Brett RUMFORD
T61
74
70
72
74
290
6
Gavin GREEN
T61
72
73
71
74
290
6
Marcus KINHULT
T61
74
69
71
76
290
6
Brandon STONE
T61
68
72
73
77
290
6
Paul DUNNE
T67
71
73
73
74
291
7
Rhys ENOCH
T67
74
71
70
76
291
7
Sung KANG
T67
69
72
72
78
291
7
Beau HOSSLER
T75
73
70
77
73
293
9
Kiradech APHIBARNRAT
T75
74
71
74
74
293
9
Chez REAVIE
M/C
69
77
-
-
-
M/C
Russell KNOX
M/C
73
73
-
-
-
M/C
George COETZEE
M/C
75
71
-
-
-
M/C
Peter UIHLEIN
M/C
74
72
-
-
-
M/C
Kelly KRAFT
M/C
74
73
-
-
-
M/C
Andy SULLIVAN
M/C
71
76
-
-
-
M/C
Chesson HADLEY
M/C
73
74
-
-
-
M/C
Alex LEVY
M/C
73
75
-
-
-
M/C
Bronson BURGOON
M/C
74
74
-
-
-
M/C
Charles HOWELL III
M/C
75
74
-
-
-
M/C
Ryuko TOKIMATSU
M/C
72
77
-
-
-
M/C
Scott JAMIESON
M/C
75
74
-
-
-
M/C
Sang Hyun PARK
M/C
76
73
-
-
-
M/C
Thomas CURTIS
M/C
82
68
-
-
-
M/C
Hideto TANIHARA
M/C
75
75
-
-
-
M/C
Anirban LAHIRI
M/C
76
74
-
-
-
M/C
Jhonattan VEGAS
M/C
76
74
-
-
-
M/C
Haraldur MAGNUS
M/C
72
78
-
-
-
M/C
Kodai ICHIHARA
M/C
78
72
-
-
-
M/C
Patton KIZZIRE
M/C
77
74
-
-
-
M/C
Shota AKIYOSHI
M/C
77
74
-
-
-
M/C
Ryan ARMOUR
M/C
75
76
-
-
-
M/C
Matt JONES
M/C
75
76
-
-
-
M/C
Retief GOOSEN
M/C
74
77
-
-
-
M/C
Danthai BOONMA
M/C
78
74
-
-
-
M/C
Jonas BLIXT
M/C
77
76
-
-
-
M/C
Nicolas COLSAERTS
M/C
79
74
-
-
-
M/C
Grant FORREST
M/C
80
73
-
-
-
M/C
Min Chel CHOI
M/C
79
74
-
-
-
M/C
Masanori KOBAYASHI
M/C
82
72
-
-
-
M/C
Brady SCHNELL
M/C
79
75
-
-
-
M/C
Yuxin LIN
M/C
80
74
-
-
-
M/C
Jack SENIOR
M/C
79
76
-
-
-
M/C
Ash TURNER
M/C
78
77
-
-
-
M/C
James ROBINSON
M/C
75
81
-
-
-
M/C
Andrew LANDRY
M/C
80
77
-
-
-
M/C
Jovan REBULA
M/C
79
79
-
-
-
M/C
Jens DANTORP
M/C
76
82
-
-
-
M/C