Is Francesco Molinari done?

BlackDiamondPar5 · April 25, 2019

He's done for sure... He's done handing a victory to anyone.

3jacker · April 25, 2019

> @Kevinnz said:

> Jst learnt the fact that FM used to be a caddie, wow he knows his stuff around the courses im sure, so hes far from done

It's good to have a fall-back option. Is that what you mean?

Or that the other players are disadvantaged never having been caddies? lol.

singapore_sling · May 2

Huge Francesco fan, and really hope he finds his way back. Interesting to look at his Strokes gained, and he's really fallen off in driving distance after gaining quite a bit and I think that's fed into not having enough advantage either on approach.

Golfnutgalen · May 4

On 5/2/2024 at 11:42 AM, singapore_sling said:

Huge Francesco fan, and really hope he finds his way back. Interesting to look at his Strokes gained, and he's really fallen off in driving distance after gaining quite a bit and I think that's fed into not having enough advantage either on approach.

I remember the story when he was winning the British Open was all about his gains in speed, but they were a little overblown. He was still only 98th in ballspeed that season and 52nd in distance. His ranks have dropped a lot since then but even in 2022 he was still very close to the same speed (168.94 vs 168.28).

Edited May 5 by Golfnutgalen

iBanesto · May 5

15 hours ago, Golfnutgalen said:

I remember the story when he was winning the British Open was all about his gains in speed, but they were a little overblown. He was still only 98th in clubhead speed that season and 52nd in distance. His ranks have dropped a lot since then but even in 2022 he was still very close to the same speed (168.94 vs 168.28).

Did Molinari's approach the green stats improve in 2018?

Being theoretically closer to the green and using shorter clubs.

Golfnutgalen · May 5

5 hours ago, iBanesto said:

Did Molinari's approach the green stats improve in 2018?

Being theoretically closer to the green and using shorter clubs.

I would have thought so but not really. He was 3rd in SG approach the previous year and 10th in 2018. He was also a very respectable 26th in SG off the tee even though is clubhead speed was only 166.66.

Needless to say both his approach and off the tee stats plummeted after that 2018 season. His stats from 2013-2017 are significantly better than anything post 2018.

Edited May 5 by Golfnutgalen

stinger_gc · May 5

22 hours ago, Golfnutgalen said:

I remember the story when he was winning the British Open was all about his gains in speed, but they were a little overblown. He was still only 98th in clubhead speed that season and 52nd in distance. His ranks have dropped a lot since then but even in 2022 he was still very close to the same speed (168.94 vs 168.28).

He actually gained a decent amount of distance off the tee in 2018 and that was a big part of his success. Molinari was 9 yards longer in 2018 compared to 2017. He’s gone from hitting it 5 yards longer then the avg to being 7 yards shorter.

Golfnutgalen · May 5

3 minutes ago, stinger_gc said:

He actually gained a decent amount of distance off the tee in 2018 and that was a big part of his success. Molinari was 9 yards longer in 2018 compared to 2017. He’s gone from hitting it 5 yards longer then the avg to being 7 yards shorter.

My point was he was still hitting it at similar speeds up to the last year he's even ranked (2022). His drop in form has much more to do with a loss in accuracy. Wouldn't be surprised if that Masters 2019 final round killed his mojo as well.

There is no doubt he gained speed. He did so over about a 4 year period. In his own words he said he had to change in order to compete after being paired with Rory and DJ in the British Open in 2014.

Ballspeed

2015: 162.1 (158th)

2016: 164.06 (138th)

2017: 166.66 (121st)

2018: 168.94 (98th)

2019: 168.06 (124th)

2020-2021: NR

2022: 168.28 (146th)

I used ballspeed because it's the best stat for distance. Clubhead speed can give you funky numbers every once in a while and driving distance stats are subject to course conditions and club selection.

iBanesto · May 6

18 hours ago, Golfnutgalen said:

I would have thought so but not really. He was 3rd in SG approach the previous year and 10th in 2018. He was also a very respectable 26th in SG off the tee even though is clubhead speed was only 166.66.

Needless to say both his approach and off the tee stats plummeted after that 2018 season. His stats from 2013-2017 are significantly better than anything post 2018.

Interesting.

I assume then his SG putting have improved in 2018? 😅

Golfnutgalen · May 6

5 hours ago, iBanesto said:

Interesting.

I assume then his SG putting have improved in 2018? 😅

Oddly enough no. At least among the scored events he was pretty dismal at 182nd that season. In comparison he was pretty good the year before at 127th.

Datagolf's numbers are slightly better using their "true strokes gained" formula. 2012 is a huge outlier when he gained nearly a full stroke in putting. However that's counting only 3 events, so take it with a grain of salt.