Cracking the Ryder Cup Code with Team Europe Vice Captain Dodo Molinari

Cracking the Ryder Cup Code with Team Europe Vice Captain Dodo Molinari

I’m Joseph Lammana of Friday golf. Enjoy a wide-ranging conversation with Eduardo Molinari, vice captain of team Europe and one of the key analytical minds behind the success of team Europe at the RDER Cup. [Music] Okay, we’re here with the winning vice captain, Dodo Molinari. When we last spoke about a year ago, you had said you had text me a prediction of the final score of the 2025 RDER Cup and that I could reveal it after the event. You correctly predicted a 15-13 score, but you also said in that text you might get a tattoo if you were correct. Have you gotten the tattoo yet or is that coming? I don’t remember anything about the tattoo. Um I I will have to check that really. Um I forgot this. You you did say that you said you might get one. Well, I might. There was a um a a couple weeks removed now from the event. Are there any scenes that you find yourself replaying in your head of of the 15 to 13 win? Um there’s a few there’s um obviously, you know, the first morning it didn’t go as well as Rome, but it was a a very good start. uh we were um not scared but we were probably fearing of falling behind early and then with the crowds with everything that was going on it would have been an extremely difficult week and I I thought after that first morning it’s like right we’re we’re in the game here and we have a great chance um so first morning you know a lot of things happened um and then obviously you know that Sunday afternoon is something that um it ended up well for us but for a good uh hour and a half I would say at least um we were just not not very comfortable in in our position. Yeah. I wanted to ask you that Europe led 11 and a half to four and a half entering Sunday singles and ended up getting pretty close there. Was there any point during the day where you actually thought on Sunday it might flip? Um well you know we got off to a good start on Sunday. Uh the only issue was that we were up in a lot of matches, but everyone was like one up most of them apart from Fitzy. So all the games it looked like were going down the last few holes. And then um I guess our players were a bit tired after a long week and having to deal with everything they had to deal with. Um and I remember I was following Fitzy and then I moved up to Justin Rose game when he was playing 11 and 12. And at that time we started losing a few holes here and there and all of a sudden from being one up we’re almost all the matches were like either tied or one down and you know that’s a that’s a very uncomfortable feeling. You almost feel like the ground is uh you know shaking a bit and and falling away from your feet. You mentioned it there with how tired your players were come Sunday. Yeah. With the current intensity and stakes of the RDER Cup, are Friday and Saturday too long of days? Would there be some benefit to stretching that out a little bit more? Have we packed too much golf into the first two days of the RDER Cup? I I don’t think so. I think it’s uh you know, the Ryder Cup is is is great because of those Friday and Saturday as well. Uh there’s a lot of action going on. If you only had four games on one day, I think it would be extremely difficult to to watch it for the spectators as well. Um, and also there’s a bit more strategy involved like are we going to play or our our players are we going to arrest someone? If it’s only four games, I get a feeling that you might end up playing the same players over and over again. Uh, and I think one of the beauties of the Ryder Cup is that, you know, you have to sit players, you have to play others. It’s um I think it’s part of the competition and no, I wouldn’t change it. Uh, obviously so much preparation goes into getting ready for the RDER Cup. Was there anything about the week that surprised you? Um, I would say the core setup that definitely surprised me. Um, in a good way. Uh, like we were kind of hoping that they were going to go with the usual setup of Norath and make it a birdie fest. Uh, cuz we felt like we were making more birdies than they were. We had some very long hitters that were very happy seeing no rough at all. Uh even you know even someone like Aori who’s you know he can play any course in the world but if he can pick and choose a golf course will be like very long not much rough softish green so even if he’s in the rough he can he can go for the pins. Um and this year he’s had the the best batting year of his of his career. So, you know, all those all those things combined when we went there for the practice trip, we were kind of hoping that it was going to be what what we saw. And then by the time Monday of the Ryder Cup came, they cut down the rough even more. Uh, which was again very surprising in in a very good way. When you’re going through this process and you’re not 100% sure what the golf course is going to look like, when do you actually know what the rough what what the whole setup is going to be for the week? Is it not until you get on site the week of the RDER Cup? Can you explain that process from your perspective as the away team? Yeah, as an away team, it’s always uh difficult. you know, they’re going to play, you know, games a bit and obviously they knew that we were going to go there for a couple of days practicing and the the greens were definitely slower than how they were in the Ryder Cup. Um, again, they was a bit more rough, but you’re always trying to guess a little bit uh what they’re going to do cuz in a week time obviously they cannot grow the rough 4 in, but they can definitely cut it down. They can speed up the greens. They can make them firmer, softer. Um and it looked like even even in that practice trip that it was going to be a very lowcoring bath page like it’s never been in the past. Um obviously we had data from previous majors and and you PGA tour events and the golf course never played nowhere near as easy as it was playing. So you have to guess a little bit. Uh be ready to adapt and and change like we change a couple of um of things. uh especially in the order of the forsomes uh based on the setup. Obviously, you wanted to have your the way the golf course was, there was there wasn’t much premium on on hitting fairways. So, at that point, you just wanted your longest player to hit odds uh regardless whether he was hitting the fairway or missing the fairway. Uh you just want to be as as far down as possible. Uh but you know again you have to be able to kind of adapt and and change a little bit and and and also you know there’s not much they can do in a week. So when we saw the setup on on Monday week prior then we thought right you know this is going to be a birdie fest and we need to be ready to to make pots and make a lot of birdies. that that kind of became a big talking point, the odds versus evens, especially with an American team flipping from their first session to their second session. How significant did you see the distance advantage on the odds versus the evens for for this particular RDER Cup? Yeah, it was um it was quite significant. It just depends as well on on the pairing that you have. So, like to give you an example, one of our pairings um was Victor playing with Bob McIntyre and there isn’t much difference between the two. So, we’ve been chatting to them pretty much every day in the days leading up to it. What they could basically pick and choose what to do and in the end they decided to go with Bob down the the first on the first day, which I thought was maybe marginally better, but not much of a difference. And then after playing one day, then they decided to swap simply because of the wind direction and certain t-shirts that Bob didn’t like and and Victor liked. Um so they they swapped and they and they won the next day. Um I think again for certain combinations there there wasn’t much in it. For other combinations like you know Rory and Tommy, it would be massive if if Tommy plays odds and Rory plays evens. Like you know that that difference that was always a no-brainer. like Rory knew that he was going to play odds two weeks before. When you’re thinking about something like the distance advantage on particular holes, do you do any kind of waiting more towards the the holes that you know for a fact you’re going to play versus, for example, you may not even get to the 18th hole. Can you just think about are there is there a relative importance of different holes considering you’re not likely to make it all 18 or or do you not even factor that in? Yeah, a little bit. A little bit. you look at it um especially in in forsomes like if you start playing well then it’s you know it’s difficult very few go down the last hole uh quite often foromes finish on 16 17 even 15 um so you more than that I would say you look at in the first few holes what what you want to achieve what you want to who do you want to put for bird in the first few holes um so it’s yeah it’s a combination I think that’s very marginal but it’s something that yeah we look at as well. Now, I want to get into some pairings and and some player specific stuff. Let’s start with Justin Rose. He had been great in 2025, but pretty inconsistent. Showed up for some really big events. Can you talk about how you view Justin Rose’s role entering the week? Yeah, I mean, Justin is um I think he’s got this incredible skill to turn on his game almost at will. uh like he played, you know, last year in 24 he didn’t play well at all for for a guy of his level. And then this year he had a couple of good tournaments early on. He had a great Masters, nearly won it, lost in a playoff. Then from the Masters onwards, he had a couple of small little injuries, didn’t play great, uh didn’t show up until Scottish Open. Uh and then at that point we were like well you know we need to see something more from Justin otherwise he’s you know it’s going to be difficult to pick someone only because he played well until April. Um I think Luke had a bit of a of a chat with him and then all of a sudden he finishes top five both at the Scottish Open at the Open which is you know fair play. And then same thing like you know a few weeks later he wins one of the elevated events which at that point I mean it’s again it really surprised us in a good way like how he can have like some off weeks completely and then all of a sudden out of the blue he just jumps out and and plays great and and the rider cup again was the same thing like if you look at strokes gained by a round he was our best player of of all 12 uh which is truly incredible like he’s the guy, you know, he’s older than me. He’s, you know, the you would say that the core setup didn’t necessarily favor him. Uh, but, you know, all of a sudden, he showed up in the practice and he had like 178, 180 ball speed, which he he hasn’t had in in months. So, there’s something about him that is very fascinating that he’s able to again find this game when he really needs it. And you know, it just goes to show again in the afternoon when he played, I mean, probably the biggest four ball he’s ever played against Scotty and Bryson. He just kept making birdies for fun. Uh, which is I I find it just incredible. So, you are a believer in golfers being able to turn it on for big events and and that is something that you would factor into your own confidence level deploying Justin Rose at at the Ryder Cup. You believe that somebody can elevate their game like that? I would say in general I’m not. But with Justin, I have to I have to admit that it’s there’s something going on there that is like he’s able to somehow, you know, turn it on at at will. And it’s uh again, as I said before, it’s just uh incredible because he’s, you know, he’s probably the only one that I know that, you know, you you you ask him, right, you need we need you for these 18 holes and all of a sudden it just shoot 65 66. Uh, is there anything you learned or changed your mind on throughout the experience of this Ryder Cup about in general? It can be as specific as some pairing strategy and and something analytically driven or it could be the entire way that the team approaches a rider cup and a rider cup. Uh, is there anything that any insights that you you could lend that is a takeaway for you from this? We learned a few things. We learned that uh, you know, on on Saturday night I I would say was almost over and I think the American felt pretty much in the same way. Uh but Ryder Cup is a very strange animal. It’s uh you know it doesn’t take much to to flip completely. It happened at Madina years ago. Uh and it almost happened this time. So I think that’s that’s a great lesson to be learned from from us that you know it doesn’t matter where you are at what point in the week what’s the scoring looking like. You just have to fight for every single point. Like if you think now looking back like how big uh Fitzy and Hatton point was on Saturday afternoon that last game they won the last hole to win the game. I mean, if they lose that hole, all of a sudden you’re 10 and a half, five and a half, which is still a massive lead, but looking what happened on Sunday, then, you know, that that point was was crazy important. And and so many other little things like it’s amazing when you look at look back at the end of the week, how many small moments like half a point here, half a point there. Uh they just add up to to a lot. Uh what was your reaction to seeing the Colin Morawa Harris English pairing for a second time? Um well for the second time I would say I was very surprised. Um I think the first time you can kind of if you want to play everyone on the first day you have to make sacrifices somewhere. Um and I guess they you know again in match play anything can happen like the differences between these guys is not that big. Uh so they could have easily gone and and played well and and and won the game. Uh I would say you know without with all the respect like the way they played on on Friday morning um I would have probably you know put out a different for like if the same thing happened to us I think we we would have put out a different forsome regardless of of who it is like if you don’t play very well and you know you get beaten pretty badly then we might still play the guys but maybe play them in a different format or with a different partner or something Yes, like I don’t think if we were 3-1 down um I don’t think you would have seen the exact same lineup on the next day. Uh what are your thoughts generally on pairing two of your best players together in four balls? You’re put me putting me in a difficult spot now. Well, again, it’s uh you know, I don’t think I think it’s far from ideal, especially in four balls. Like if you really want to do it, I would probably do it in foursomes. Uh to do it in four balls, like it’s four ball, it’s a it’s a bit of a of a lottery almost like you could have the worst two team the worst two players on a team beating the other two best players in a team. Um like it’s I think it’s it’s a very risky move. It it’s it gave us like a a very big target to aim for and and I felt like, you know, Tommy and Justin went out and they knew that, you know, they almost had nothing to lose and and all of a sudden if you once you go up in that game, it’s it’s massive. It’s a big confidence boost for the rest of our team. Um and I guess it was a big hit for for the US as well. Yeah. Uh it’s not your job to to analyze and solve the American side, but I do think a fascinating question to come out of this Rder Cup. Scotty Sheoffller was not his typical self. Did not play to his standard. Went one and four and he’s now 0 and4 in forsomes. Two of the best stroke players of the 21st century in Scotty Sheffller and Tiger Woods, both American have struggled significantly in the Ryder Cup compared to expectations. As somebody who’s knows this stuff so well, what is your potential explanation to why we might see drastically different performances in the RDER Cup than 72 hole stroke play from some of these type players? I think it goes back a little bit to the to the Scottish Heffler and Bryson in four balls. Like when you’re the best player in the world by such a big margin, all of a sudden you have a big target on your back and 18th hole in match play any one of these players can beat anyone. So it’s you go out knowing that you know your chances to win is not the same as a over 72 holes in stroke play. Um, and if you get a guy who’s, you know, has a has a good day on the greens or, you know, make a chip at the at the right time, all of a sudden you’re in danger of losing the game. So, I think it’s a it’s a very difficult spot for them to to play. And I would also add that it’s a very difficult spot to s for someone to play with because I could see, you know, Russell Henley is a fantastic player, but you could see on on Friday morning and a little bit even on Saturday, but especially on Friday, I thought that he was like a little bit he wasn’t playing like his usual self. Uh, and I think part of it deep down is probably the fact that well I’m player I’m paired with the best player in the world and we’re losing badly. Um, so I guess you know if we’re losing it’s not really his fault. It’s more like my fault. And I think when you start looking at it that way I think it’s again for their playing partners I think it’s quite difficult. Like if you look at it Tiger had I don’t know how many different playing partners and and he kept had a losing record in Rder Cup. Uh maybe Striker was the one that he played the best, but even in Ryder Cups, they didn’t have a a fantastic record. Um and I think on the other hand, it just frees up some of our players. Like if you look at historically how Lee Westwood and Sergio patted in their career and then how they patted in the lighter cups. uh you know that that’s the other side of the coin like you know when when when you are the underdog and you got nothing to lose it’s it’s pretty easy to go out and play in holes and and you know if you win it’s great if you don’t it’s well it’s normal I do want to talk a little bit about the crowd the notion that the Americans face the same type of crowd behavior in Europe as as the Europeans face here in America based on your experience is that true unfortunately not uh I would say the the loud and the you know the loudness the the noise it’s the same and that’s that’s fine like there’s nothing wrong with shouting with you know screaming when when it’s time to do it. I would say the the two things that are very different is a is the amount of swearing and you know at the players um and heckling at the players like one thing is to you know swear against you your family your kids your daughter your parents whatever and another thing is you know what I think that the most insulting thing that happened in the room was the people waving the head to Patrick Klay I think That’s that’s two d two very different things. And also I think when they do it I felt like in New York a few times well a lot of times player had to back off. Player had to you know and we we told them specifically like you know whatever happens you have to try and and keep going and not not be never back away because of the crowds because you just make it worse. they starting screaming more and and it did happen. But, you know, I was out with Rory and Shane on um Saturday afternoon, which was probably the worst uh the worst part of the Rally Cup, the worst I’ve ever seen, you know, crowd behavior on a golf course. And I I I had the feeling on the between the fourth green all the way to the eighth, I thought we’re we’re not, you know, it was almost unplayable. Like at one point Rory on the six screen, he must have waited five six minutes to hit the P. Uh and I think that’s that’s a bit too much. Like you can you can shout and scream and say whatever you want, but not when the players are addressing the ball. Like in Europe when once the players are addressing the ball, everything everyone goes quiet. And I don’t remember in in I had two Ryder Cups experiences at home. um one as a player, one as a vice captain, and not once one American player had to back off because someone shouted in the back swing or while he was taking a rest. But it’s the way it is. Yeah, I I was walking with that group all 18 on Saturday afternoon. I felt like the worst of it was the sixth hole and especially the sixth green. I believe I saw you on the green speaking with the official during that during that hole as that was unfolding. What was the conversation like between you and the official in that group? Well, I was just uh asking him what we’re going to do here because it’s uh it was clearly on that green it was clearly unplayable. Like Roy tried to address the ball a couple of times and then started shouting every single time. Um so he was trying to you know call for more marshals, more police guys, but I think when it gets that bad it’s it’s almost like the crowd somehow should have to self polish themselves. uh like and and the sad thing is that you know there were probably 5,000 people around that green and because three or four idiots started shouting then all of a sudden everyone looked like it was bad but unfortunately it’s like a you know it happens very often it just takes two or three persons around one green to to make it look very bad and everyone else was absolutely fantastic and we got a lot of great support as well uh which you don’t have to to forget that like in practice rounds we were trying to sign and and taking pictures and getting the kids in whatever. Uh and we got I mean the amount of text messages or Instagram messages I got private messages was overwhelming like a lot of people that I never met before thanking us for being so kind for being so open and and so on. So again it’s 99% of people were fantastic but unfortunately there’s always a few that make it look uh very very bad. Uh, the Telegraph reported that Europe was prepared to halt play if some of the crowd behavior did not stop. Is that true? And how close did we get to that point? No, no, no. That was never discussed. It was never talked about. That’s uh, no, that’s not true at all. Um the only thing we said with is that we were trying you know me as a vice captain walking with the players you know all the marshals everyone we were just trying our best to not to irritate the crowds even more and just trying to you know be be humble be trying not to react to them which I thought we did a great job for a day and a half and then when you when you’re exposed to that for like 12 hours a day eventually it gets to you and and obviously some player reacted but I think that’s just normal human being. Like it would have been it would have been impossible to, you know, for anyone not to react for three straight days to to what was going on. Um, moving past the crowd, a few miscellaneous ones to to round us out here on the set live from on Golf Channel. Paul McInley had specifically mentioned rookies struggling on the road. Does that reflect your own opinion that rookies struggle more on the road than at home? And if so, do you view home rider cups as more of an opportunity to test future Rder Cupers versus playing somebody for the first time at an away Rder Cup? Yeah, definitely. I mean, as you know, like we look at a lot of different things and one of the things that we looked for this Ryder Cup was how our rookies play in the States. H and unfortunately, they they have they have a decent record at home. Uh and they have a a losing record big time away. Um so unless someone is you know particularly young and and you know strong and mentally and everything I think for the rook for our rookies at least playing away it’s a it’s a very difficult thing. Uh it’s much easier to play at home. Um like you know in Rome we had a few rookies and they all performed pretty well. Uh but that’s uh you know that’s something that again it was u one other thing that aligned for us and we got quite lucky to have basically the same team as we had in Rome only one rookie which was Rasmos which experienced the R cup in Rome. Um it’s not like oh it’s an away r cup I’m going to play I’m going to pick no rookies at all because if you have someone that is playing really well it’s difficult to leave him at home but this time for some reason you know team was almost the same and you know sometimes it’s just uh written uh on the topic of randomness and putting some people would look at the data from this past Rder Cup and say that you know the Americans kind of stood toe-to-toe with the Europeans te to green and Europe significantly out putt the Americans. Therefore, Europeans didn’t dominate nearly as much as the scoreboard might suggest. How random is putting, Eduardo? It is very random. Uh I mean we well I had and everyone else I think had the Americans as slightly better putters um across the team. Uh the only thing is that ping as you know is very random. So you could have someone who’s not good putter beating Matthew Fitzpatrick or you know who’s another good pter or Sam Burns uh on in a ping contest. It’s very difficult that a a less skilled player will beat Scottish Heffler in a in a ball striking test like that’s almost never going to happen. But patting has a lot more randomness which I think again you know don’t don’t want to don’t want to dig in too much but it’s like when you are the better team and you make the course kind of a ping contest then I feel like you’re making a big gift to to the opposition like it’s you’re bringing everyone to the same level and then it becomes a bit of a lottery and and we were you know good and and lucky enough to to win uh on that that patting game this time. Uh, do you believe that putting under a significant amount of pressure is a completely different animal than putting when you’re out of contention of a tournament? Therefore, putting at the RDER Cup may be less random and may bring some of those elite putters more to the top. Just can you talk about how how you view putting in the RDER Cup and the pressure of the RDER Cup compared to putting again when you’re way out of contention on a Saturday at a typical event? Yeah, I would say I mean ping is obviously different if you have a if you have the pat that Shane had on the last green on Sunday compared to the same pot on on a Thursday morning in any PJ tour event. That’s definitely different kind of pressure. But I think that’s true for all parts of the game. Like certain players in the history and in the recent RER Cups, they somehow elevated themselves in that environment and other players that you know look very good into, you know, before the RER Cup all of a sudden they they couldn’t play at the same level in the RER Cup. So I think it’s more the overall attitude and mindset of the player and then how they react to to that situation. I mean, you have to think that even these elite players, I I think even even when you’re in contention in a major, it’s not really the same kind of pressure, and this is like non-stop. I think Patrick Harrington said it very nicely a few years ago. He said, “Playing Rider Cup is like playing the last three holes of a major for three days in a row, 36 holes a day. It’s like you get to the end of the week and you’re absolutely knackered.” Um, and again, you know, some players love that environment, other players don’t. And I think that’s why even when you look at the rookies, it’s very difficult to know how they’re going to play until you actually see them in that environment. Even sometimes, I’ve seen it myself in, you know, some practice rounds, you see players playing unbelievable, and then come Friday morning, this that kind of game is nowhere to be seen. And other players, like John, John in the practice round never looks too good. And then he comes on Friday morning and it’s a usual John in a rally cup. Like it’s it’s crazy how he can turn on his game just because of the pressure and the adrenaline and and the hype. Do you put any stock in what a player looks like during the practice rounds? Uh very very little to be honest. um if we had, you know, every time we always have like a couple of options for the first afternoon and then the next morning and and so on, but we always look at the the the few weeks before the RE cup and then that Friday morning, Friday afternoon, like we never I unless someone looks very very bad, but even if they look bad, you still want to you still want to see how they play in a tournament. So, it’s personally I I don’t believe practice rounds, especially in the RDA cup, tell you anything about what’s going to happen. The envelope rule come under some came under some fire on Sunday as it was invoked. Victor Havlin had an injury. I don’t think anyone’s questioning whether or not it was a real injury. That that’s not the point. But would you be in support of a rule change in future captain’s agreements that stipulated a 13th replacement player who’s waiting in the wings in the event that a golfer could not compete on Sunday? Could that be a rule enhancement? Uh I I I think the envelope group is the envelope rule is uh the less of two evils probably like if you had a 13th guy around like you have to think that the 13th guy would have played what two times in 30 years and which means that both teams should bring a guy have the guy probably play practice around and sit around all week. Um, I don’t know. I I don’t think that’s a great idea. Uh, I mean, the the other thing was that I heard is, oh, if you know, someone is injured, you just lose your point. Uh, but then again, that opens the doors to, well, if one of my players is injured, I’m trying to put him out in one of the first few games and get one of the best players out from the other team as well, which means that potentially, you know, Scottish Sheffler or Bryson wouldn’t have played on Sunday. Uh, which again is is pretty shitty. I think it’s, you know, obviously it happened this time. Um, I don’t think I don’t think it should be changed cuz it’s something that most of times it’s irrelevant and it’s like it doesn’t happen very often at all. Like you have to think also that players would love to go out and play on a Sunday. So like if Victor had any any chance of swinging a club, he would have gone out and maybe lose a point or maybe win a point. We don’t know. But if he had, you know, 5% chance to to finish the round, he he would have done it. And he just, you know, he tried to he actually tried to well, he came to the course, he was in the gym and he couldn’t even swing like one of those, you know, clubs in the that you have in the gym. So, it was like, you know, that this is impossible. Uh it’s a shame because again, um obviously everyone would have liked to to see 12 singles on Sunday. Uh but again, it only happened two times in 30 something years, so I I would keep it as it is. Uh just a couple more for you. How would you feel about a rule change where captains could alternate in terms of putting out their pairings like the President’s Cup so that the opposing captain would have the opportunity to kind of match particular? I think a lot of fans would want to see that. So I’m curious your perspective. Yeah, I mean I see your point, but I’m more of a traditionalist. I think uh I think the radicup is so good because of a number of reasons. And I think this is, you know, there’s a bit of strategy and involved and a bit of gamesmanship and and and I think it’s it’s just good the way it is. Okay. Uh how familiar are you with Adair Manor and what should people expect from that golf course in a couple years time? Um, Edeno is a is a fantastic resort and and golf course. It’s uh definitely I would say in the I would say the best manicured golf course we have in in Europe. Um, golf course wise, I mean right now it’s wide fairways. It’s a big long golf course. It’s elevated greens with runoff areas everywhere. Um, in 2 years time we’ll see we’ll see what what’s going to look like. uh you know they’re willing to do pretty much uh anything that that we might need. Again, I don’t know if if I will involve if someone else will be involved in that, but it’s um yeah, I think that he’s got he’s got the potential to be an amazing rider cup like the the scenery and then the course and the resort, everything. It’s it’s incredible. Um conditions will be amazing. Hopefully the weather will cooperate, but I think it’s two weeks earlier than normal, so that that should help. Um, and again, it’s I think it’s a golf course. It’s very flexible. Like there’s a lot of TE’s there. You can move the fairway lines, you can there’s a lot of stuff you can do, and it’s going to be fun. Um, a lot of names are being floated around for the next European Rder Cup captain at a Dare Manor, likely somebody with recent experience in the locker room. Is that a role you are interested in at some point in your career? Um, I will I don’t think I will ever be a Ryder Cup captain. I think uh to be honest, I don’t have the the CV to do it. I don’t have the the charisma to do it. At least that’s what I feel. Um, I’m very happy with my role, you know, in the last two. If someone else uh is a captain or if Luke is captain again and they want me along for the ride, great. I’ll I’ll do it again uh as much as as much as they want, as many times as they want me to do it. Uh but to be honest, I think there are much better person and candidates to to be a Rder Cup captain in the future. Last one for you. What will be your favorite lasting memory from the 2025 Ryder Cup? My favorite lasting memory? Um, well, you think I’m crazy now, but um, it’s arriving to the hotel on Sunday night before the Ryder Cup, so a week before. And I found a great note on my bed uh, by Luke with some very nice words that I have it here in my my studio and it’s something that I will cherish for a for a long long time. It just uh, it means a lot. Obviously there’s a there’s a fantastic memories there’s but you know that moment you know it was unexpected and I just uh read the note and you know I almost had tears in my eyes and uh uh it really meant a lot. Would you like to read the note for us now? No I can’t. Thanks Eduardo that very generous with your time. Um and yeah if you’re involved with the team in 27 best of luck.

Fried Egg Golf’s Joseph LaMagna sits down with Team Europe Vice Captain Edoardo Molinari for a wide-ranging conversation about Team Europe’s 2025 Ryder Cup victory at Bethpage Black. The two discuss all aspects of the week, from course setup surprises, to pairing strategy, and how Europe handled the rowdy crowds on Long Island.

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