Molinari retains pole Race to Dubai position despite late first round speed wobble

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By Kent Gray
The frontman of “Moliwood” remains just that after the first lap of the Race to Dubai decider’s two-man dogfight but a late speed wobble means Francesco Molinari’s advantage over pal Tommy Fleetwood is far from comfortable.

Missed par putts on 15 and 18, the first of them a tiddler, saw Molinari slide from a potential share of Thursday’s six-under-par DP World Tour Championship lead with Jordan Smith and Adrian Otaegui to -4 and a tie for fifth place overnight.

It was still a shot better than Fleetwood’s 69 and the icy-cool Italian wasn’t sweating on a blade that suddenly cooled after a near faultless first 14 holes on Earth.

“It’s a shame because I putted really well up until the 14th and then just misjudged the pace on a couple of those putts and left myself more work to do than I needed to,” said Molinari who will become the first Italian to be crowned European No.1 if he can keep his name above Fleetwood’s on the leaderboard come Sunday.

“But yeah, good day. Especially not having played my best. A few too many wayward tee shots probably, but I fought hard. The putting was fantastic, really, for the first 14 holes, so you know, I can improve on a few things.

Obviously some of the things are not going to be easy to maintain at the same level but I think I just have to keep going like I did today and do my own things, stay out of trouble, try to make birdies and see what happens.

Fleetwood needs to win this week and for Molinari to finish outside the top five to repeat as Race to Dubai champion. He showed with a uphill birdie putt from off the side of the 18th green that he has every intention of taking this fight to the wire.

Typically, his Ryder Cup sidekick is playing down the best-buddies battle.

“Well, obviously I’m not trying to think too much about it,” Molinari said.

“I’m trying to focus on the shot at hand and go hole-by-hole, shot by shot and do the best that I can. Today, being the first day, obviously you can have a very poor round and kind of get out of the game. But it was too early, really, to feel any pressure. I’m sure, depending on all the different scenarios on Sunday, it might be different.

“It’s only Thursday, so there’s so many things that can happen. It’s really too early. We had fun. I think both of us, we didn’t really hit the ball maybe our best, but we managed to scramble well and get two solid rounds together.”

Fleetwood admitted afterwards the closing holes had been a grind and was chuffed with how he etched out a score to remain firmly in the fight.

“Yeah, it was more really good battling,” said Fleetwood who went bogey-free at sits on -3 in a crowded group including Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed, Alex Noren and Rafa Cabrera Bello.

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Fleetwood celebrates holing his birdie putt from off the 18th green during day one of the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

“To be honest, the first eight holes, I could have been a few better. I played lovely. Got really unlucky on 2. I burnt the edges on a couple of putts, so after 8, it was a case of just stay patient and pick some birdies as you go along.

“The back nine was completely opposite pretty much from 12 onwards, really, really struggled and just made really, really good up-and-downs. You can’t really rely on that for the rest of the week, so I’ll have to do a little bit of work or whatever it was, sort it out by tomorrow.

“Sometimes those are the rounds that maybe win you golf tournaments at the end of the week and that’s kind of what I’ve been lacking a little bit throughout the year. Today, just take all the positives and I know strengths of my game so hopefully I can fix them pretty quickly.”

Fleetwood described the opening round with Molinari as “a pleasure” despite the magnitude of the occasion.

“We don’t get in each other’s way. I think the great thing about being so close and friends, you have such a good understanding of each other’s personality and when it’s time to talk or when it’s not time to talk.

“There’s no weird feelings out there or no sort of uneasy moments because you know each other so well. It was a pleasure being out with him today and he was doing great. He put a great score together until a couple at the end.”