SAINT-QUENTIN-en-YVELINES, France — You can’t blame Tiger Woods if he never wants to see Francesco Molinari again.
At the very least, Woods needs a break from the 35-year-old Italian.
Since July, this is what Molinari has done to Woods:
- He won Woods’ hosted event, the Quicken Loans National, in which Woods competed and finished fourth, and had the trophy handed to him on the 18th green by Woods.
- He was paired with Woods in the final round of the British Open at Carnoustie, where Woods held the tournament lead with eight holes to play. Molinari went on to overtake him and rip the Claret Jug (and Woods’ 15th career major championship) from his grip.
- And now this week’s Ryder Cup, where he’s teamed with Tommy Fleetwood to defeat Woods in three matches — in Friday’s and Saturday’s morning fourball sessions and in Saturday’s afternoon foursomes.
Making this even more maddening for Woods is the fact that, because the Ryder Cup matchups are done in a blind draw format by the two captains, his facing Molinari has been random.
“[I’m] just pretty pissed off [with] the fact that I lost three matches and didn’t feel like I played poorly,’’ Woods said. “That’s the frustrating thing about match play. We ran against two guys that were both playing well, and when one was out of the hole, especially in best-ball, the other one made birdie — and vice versa. That’s the nature of match play.’’
Molinari and Fleetwood, who became the first European tandem ever to go 4-0 together, routed Woods and Patrick Reed 4 & 3 in the Saturday morning fourballs session. After Woods made his second birdie of the day on No. 10 to even the match, Molinari birdied Nos. 11, 12 and 13 to give Europe a 3-up lead it would never relinquish.
Molinari and Fleetwood, nicknamed “Mollywood’’ as a duo, went one better when Woods was paired with Bryson DeChambeau in the Saturday afternoon foursomes match, and boat-raced them, 5 & 4.
The two Saturday losses to Molinari and Fleetwood dropped Woods’ career Ryder Cup record to 13-20-3. Worse yet, Woods is now 9-19-1 when partnered with someone.
The good news: Woods is 4-1-2 in singles.
The bad news: With the U.S. entering Sunday down, 10-6, his singles match likely will be played in garbage time with the U.S. already out of it.
In the two fourball sessions, Woods managed to card only four birdies. Woods last won a foursomes match with Steve Stricker in 2010.
So much for winning the Tour Championship last week, his first victory in five years. That apparently provided no spark for him. Woods has looked particularly lethargic at times this week. U.S. captain Jim Furyk was asked if anything is wrong with Woods.
“I think early in the week, he looked a little tired,’’ Furyk said. “I think that’s expected coming off a big win. You have to think emotionally what he put into his comeback to this season, the amount of golf he played leading up, trying to make the Ryder Cup team, to almost win the FedEx Cup. I mean, he put a lot of work and effort into it and played a lot more golf than he’s used to.
“Physically, I think Tiger’s pretty fit, but that takes a mental toll, and I think he was a little tired earlier this week. The idea to rest him on Friday afternoon was a good one. I think he was tired. It allowed him to maybe get some energy back. We came out today and decided to play him 36 [holes]. It didn’t work out, but I think he might be emotionally a little bit tired. I know he’s going to be fit and ready to go tomorrow.’’