Viva Italia! Italy Wins Its First World Cup in Golf

by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 29, 2009 11:10 AM EST

In 48 previous appearances in golf's World Cup team event, Italy had never hoisted the trophy. Unlike its fantastic success in soccer's global tournament, Italy had lacked the manpower to win on the links. This morning in China, though, that changed. Brothers Edoardo and Francesco Molinari won the Mission Hills World Cup by a shot over Ireland and Sweden.

The Molinari brothers were able to get up and down from a greenside bunker at the final hole to take the title. The Molinaris were playing the final hole behind Sweden and Ireland, who both had putts to tie the Italians. Henrik Stenson was unable to make his 45 foot attempt for the Swedes. Then 20 year old phenom Rory McIlroy could not make his birdie putt either for the Irish.

Stuart Frankling/Getty Images

"It’s really great for Italy. I think we deserved it as we attacked from the first day with every putt and every shot and we tried to make as many birdies as possible," said Francesco Molinari.

Interestingly enough, Edoardo Molinari won last weekend at the high-profile Dunlop Phoenix event in Japan via a playoff against Swedish team member Robert Karlsson.

Francesco has had a terrific season on the European Tour, including seven top ten finishes. He also finished 10th at the PGA Championship at Hazeltine.

As a team, the Molinaris also become the first pair of brothers to win the World Cup.

The US team of Nick Watney and John Merrick salvaged the tournament on Sunday as they fired a bogey-free final round of 62 to finish in the top ten - tied for seventh at -20.

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REAL Golf Fans

I can see the “real golf fans” here at waggle.com have the same fixation on the Tiger Woods saga as they do on that “other” blog. Regardless of what the press is reporting, golf does go on. Of course a former U.S. Amateur winner and his first professional win can’t hold a candle to the endless speculation that’s going on with Tiger.

I don’t understrand why the World Cup has lost its luster. The teams from the U.S.A. and England certainly were not the country’s best players. To me, Charlie Wi and Riugi Imada are as American as Michelle Wie, yet they wound up on Korean and Japanese teams by virtue of their place of birth… While we keep saying Asia is the future of golf, Italy now gets a little nod. Don’t forget Contantino Rocca almost won the Open with that monster putt from the Vally of Sin…..Bravo Italiano!!!

by pingforever on Nov 30, 2009 6:37 AM EST reply actions

This was a fantastic tournament – all kinds of fun to watch.

Four days of GREAT golf…and all you “golf fans” want to talk about is Tiger Woods wrecking a car.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Nov 30, 2009 10:27 AM EST reply actions

I really enjoyed catching what I could of this. So cool to see the genuine emotion of the Molinaris when they won.

Find me! Email: ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/waggleroomryan, or Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggleroom.

by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 30, 2009 10:38 AM EST up reply actions

Replay of the 4th round is on xxx Golf Channel right now. What you can’t see are the guys in “shiny suits” just out of camera view walking in the Irish and Swedish team’s gallery. ;-)

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Nov 30, 2009 11:05 AM EST up reply actions