Monday Finish: Francesco Molinari all smiles entering THE PLAYERS

On a firm, hard course, Italy’s Francesco Molinari enjoys the best putting performance of his PGA TOUR career for a final-round 64 and a two-shot victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. Welcome to the Monday Finish, where Molinari went bogey free over his last 28 holes, soared from 151st all the way to 20th in the FedExCup, and looked ahead to a potential second straight title and golf history at THE PLAYERS Championship. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. Molinari eyes API-PLAYERS double. No one has ever come off a win and then backed it up with another at THE PLAYERS at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. Don’t count out Molinari, 36, who is one of the hottest players in golf and has four top-10 finishes in eight starts at THE PLAYERS. And here’s another reason for optimism: While Molinari’s 146’ 9’’ worth of made putts in the final round at the API marked the best putting day of his career, the second best was his 144’ 8’’ worth of made putts in the first round of THE PLAYERS in 2014. “I know that I can shoot low scores pretty much on every golf course,â€� he said. Now he drives some two hours north to try and accomplish the API-PLAYERS double. With three wins in his last 12 starts on TOUR, Molinari seems like as good a bet as anyone to win. “I had quite a long off-season, but I was hoping to hit form around THE PLAYERS,â€� he said. “And things have gone even better than I thought.â€� 2. Europeans love Bay Hill. Between the winner Molinari (64), runner-up Matthew Fitzpatrick (71), and T3s Tommy Fleetwood (68) and Rafa Cabrera Bello (69), four of the top five finishers at Bay Hill were from Europe. Add fellow T3 Sungjae Im and the top five finishers were international players. Molinari joins recent winners Rory McIlroy (2018), Marc Leishman (2017) and Jason Day (2016). Matt Every (2014, ’15) was the last American winner. 3. Fitzpatrick earned Special Temporary Membership. It wasn’t all doom and gloom for runner-up Matthew Fitzpatrick (71), who couldn’t hold the lead but at 24 years old still earned 300 FedExCup points and Special Temporary Membership on the PGA TOUR. Once he accepts, he will be eligible for unlimited sponsor exemptions for the remainder of the 2018-’19 TOUR season. Special Temporary Members are not eligible for the FedExCup Playoffs, but can become regular TOUR members by winning an official event. Those points, plus any points earned previously, would be counted on the FedExCup points list, and the player would then be eligible for the Playoffs at the end of this season. “I’m delighted for solo second,â€� Fitzpatrick said, “but I just felt like the way I played and the way I was hitting it, I could have been a little more aggressive.â€� 4. McIlroy a top-10 machine. Rory McIlroy has six straight top-6 finishes on TOUR and moved from 15th to 11th in the FedExCup, an improvement over a year ago because he’s been far more consistent. Last season, after winning the API, he was only 24th in the FedExCup. That’s because last season he came into Orlando with two missed cuts in four starts. “I’m playing well,â€� McIlroy insisted after struggling on the greens and taking 30 putts on Sunday. “I’m getting myself into contention every week.â€� His biggest regret: “I could have played the par 5s better.â€� 5. Im making an impact. Sungjae Im (T3, -9) was one of the most highly touted rookies after earning Web.com Tour Player of the Year last season. Now he’s climbed 13 spots in the FedExCup standings to 26th. This was his best result since finishing T4 at the season-opening Safeway Open. Im was the first player ever to lead the money list wire-to-wire for the entire season on the Web.com Tour last season. FIVE INSIGHTS 1. Molinari perfecting final-round surge. He won The National last summer with a final-round 62. This time, Molinari’s 8-under 64 tied the lowest final round in relation to par at the API since 1983. It had been done three previous times: Rory McIlroy (64, ’18), Mark O’Meara (64, ’90) and Gary Koch (63, ’84). Molinari’s five-stroke come-from-behind victory matches the best this season, equaling Xander Schauffele at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. 2. It was a dream day on the greens. Molinari was a perfect 12/12 from inside 10 feet. And his 43’ 9’’ birdie putt on 18 Sunday, which pleased him because he’d seen Tiger Woods make it from the same line, was the longest putt he’s made on TOUR this season and the longest made putt all week on 18. He was 4th in Strokes Gained: Putting (+1.699), but led the field in SG: Off-the-Tee (+1.269). He was 34th in SG: Approach-the-Green (+.346) and 45th in SG: Around-the-Green (+.009). He was first in the field in SG: Total (+3.323). 3. McIlroy’s Sunday struggles continue. A 14-time TOUR winner, McIlroy has not won the last nine times he’s played in the final group on Sunday, dating back to the start of 2018. His 72 left him four shots behind and in a tie for sixth. He was the only player among the top 14 finishers not to break par in the final round. 4. Aaron Baddeley (74, T17) joined the sub-100 club. Baddeley needed just 99 putts for the week, becoming the third player this season to take fewer than 100 in a tournament. Kiradech Aphibarnrat (WGC-HSBC Champions) and Adam Long (Desert Classic) each required only 98 putts for the week earlier this season. 5. Bay Hill won, in a manner of speaking. Players hit 94 balls in the water in the first round, the most of any round there since 2003. The 203 water balls through three rounds were the second most through three rounds since 2003. And for the third straight year, no player managed to post four straight rounds in the 60s. Kevin Chappell was the last to accomplish that feat in 2016. WYNDHAM REWARDS   The Wyndham Rewards Top 10 is in its first season and adds another layer of excitement to the FedExCup Regular Season. The top 10 players at the end of the FedExCup Regular Season will earn bonus payouts from the Wyndham Rewards Top 10. There were no changes at the top after the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, with one and two Xander Schauffele and Matt Kuchar, respectively, holding their positions. In finishing T23 at Bay Hill, Marc Leishman moved into the Top 5. This could be a big week for movement, as the winner of THE PLAYERS Championship will earn 600 FedExCup points.

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