Ryder Cups can often be decided by the finer details here and there, and in stats guru Edoardo Molinari Europe may just have a secret weapon that could tip the balance in their favour in Rome.
The Italian is one of Luke Donald’s vice-captains for the Ryder Cup and as well as being a home hero Molinari is also an “unbelievable asset” for the team, according to Viktor Hovland.
The Norwegian credits Molinari and his eye for spotting statistical advantages for his own personal form, which has seen him become a consistent challenger in the Majors and a two-time PGA Tour winner this year.
Both Ryder Cup teams will lean heavily on stats in terms of pairing strategy and also in how to play Marco Simone Golf Club – and in Molinari they have a unique asset in a stats maestro who has also played at the top level.
And having that combination of a former Ryder Cup player who is such an expert in the stats department is a huge bonus for Europe, and could just make all the difference.
“Obviously he’s the genius when it comes to the stats,” Hovland said of Molinari. “And it’s very rare to have a person that has that much expertise and competence.
“He’s very intelligent, but at the same time he’s played at the highest level himself. He’s played a Ryder Cup. He’s won big events. So it’s just rare to have that combination.
“And on top of it all he’s just the best guy there is. He’s an unbelievable guy and he’s just a lot of fun to be around. So even if he didn’t have the stats portion to help us out with, he would still be an unbelievable asset on the team. You just feel good around him.”
Stats guru Edoardo Molinari has been working with Viktor Hovland
(Image credit: Getty Images)
To illustrate his point, Hovland revealed just how far Molinari had dug into his stats bag to pull out a piece of data that helped him to take a step up.
“I think it was right after Augusta,” Hovland explained. “I had obviously been working with Edoardo for about a year…. and just from watching me play the first kind of three, four, five months of the season, he was like, Look, man, things are looking really good, but I would have a double bogey here or a double bogey there and it…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golf Monthly RSS Feed…