Edoardo Molinari Hoping for His Third Win

Remarkably, the victories in the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond and then on Sunday in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles were both achieved with Francesco as his final-round playing partner.

The younger of the first siblings to make the same Ryder Cup team since Bernard and Geoff Hunt in 1963 is having the week off before returning at the KLM Open in Holland next Thursday.

But wild card Edoardo is at Crans-sur-Sierre in Switzerland and considers last year’s tournament as the start of his amazing burst into Colin Montgomerie’s side.

Molinari began 2009 at 653rd in the world, by this time last year was up to 166th and then a month later climbed into the top 100.

Now he is 15th, which makes him the highest-ranked player in this week’s field ahead of Open champion Louis Oosthuizen.

That will guarantee Molinari a star group in the first two rounds wherever he plays on the circuit – and on this occasion he finds himself paired with Australian great Greg Norman.

This is the 55-year-old’s first appearance since a shoulder operation last September – surgery which he originally hoped would keep him out of action for only two months.

It is only two years ago, of course, that Norman – newly-married to tennis legend Chris Evert at the time – led The Open at Royal Birkdale with only nine holes to go.

Oosthuizen, meanwhile, partners Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez, the only other member of Europe’s team taking part.

The 46-year-old felt he had to add Gleneagles to his schedule for fear of losing his Ryder Cup spot.

As things turned out he could have gone to his nephew’s wedding instead, but finishing joint third was another boost to his confidence in the countdown to his fourth cap against the Americans.

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