By Kent Gray
How do you top winning the Open Championship, a perfect five from five Ryder Cup record in Paris and finishing the season European No.1 in Dubai? Francesco Molinari, jubilant but exhausted Italian trailblazer, hasn’t a clue either.

The 36-year-old duly clinched the Harry Vardon Trophy Sunday at Jumeirah Golf Estates and Tommy Fleetwood, the only man capable of pipping him for the title, was first on hand with congratulations. It’s what best pals on tour do.

For the record, Molinari closed the 10th DP World Tour Championship with a one-under 71 for a current share of 26th place. Fleetwood signed for a Sunday 68 to finish tied 17th but had to win and that prospect went south after a third round 74 (the Englishman he was T-17 as the leaders came down the stretch).

It made Sunday’s circumnavigation of Earth a lap of honour for Molinari. The final putt was a welcome respite, and not just because it sealed his place in European Tour history, emulating  his mate from a year before. 

“Incredible. Incredible,” said the Turin pro who also added the tour’s flagship BMW Championship and a maiden PGA Tour win to his, well, incredible, year.

“I’m really struggling for words. It’s more than I ever dreamed of achieving. I’ve seen guys that I think are better players than me not winning majors and not winning Order of Merits or Race to Dubai. To achieve those things, you know, in one single season, is just incredible.”

Molinari confirmed what everybody, Fleetwood included, could see on Earth all week – that “Moliwood” were exhausted and playing a little bit like it. It was hardly surprising after all the global travel and especially after the emotional toll of the Ryder Cup near Paris so late in a tiring season.

The challenge now is picking himself up after a career year. After a long, long break that is.

“Now it’s time to relax and recover and try to get stronger for next year. I don’t know, to be honest, how to face next season yet. It’s going to be nearly impossible to repeat or to beat that, but I need to, after a break, I need to start working hard and get ready for another good season.”

Typically self-depreciating, Molinari admitted the Race to Dubai’s final stretch had been tougher as he was battling it out with his good pal.

“Obviously it would have been probably easier in a way to play against anyone else but him. I know how talented he is and I really thought at some point he was going to win it and put me in a tough spot.

“But you know, it is what it is. He won last year. He’s a great guy and an even better player, and he’s going to win, I’m sure, a lot more Race to Dubais. He’s a bit younger than me, so it was nice to win one this year. I don’t have as much golf in front of me as he does I think.”

But that is for the future. No now, Molinari is the best golfer in Europe, a crown that will never be erased from the history books.

“It means a lot,” he said.

“You look at the players who have won The Race to Dubai or the Order of Merit before that, and obviously it’s only really the top players that have done it.

“I said it at the beginning of the week; it means a lot because it’s a season a long race and on a week, you can beat anyone, really. You can have your perfect four days of golf and win a tournament, but to win something like this obviously shows how good the season has been.

“Obviously, ideally, it would have been nice to come here in better shape and close it out in better fashion, but I think obviously both Tommy and I, we’re really exhausted after a very long season, and you know, I’m very proud.”