The ‘Guru’ of the European Ryder Cup Team, and It’s Not Rory McIlroy; the 34-Year-Old Veteran Hails Praises for the Captain’s Masterful Right Hand

Rory McIlroy is no different from the rest of his Ryder Cup counterparts as he gets ready for his seventh appearance at the biennial event. The Northern Irishman’s amazing display on the course has helped him make a strong statement in the game. But what if, in the upcoming event, the golfer would rely on not just his hard work, but some intelligent work with the help of his fellow teammate?

That is exactly what the professional touched upon in the recent press conference that took place at the BMW PGA Championship. Involving a bit of statistics, numbers, experience, and a whole lot of trust, McIlroy was all praise for “the guru” of the European side.

Rory McIlroy shares his opinion on the teacher of the European Ryder Cup team

The Ryder Cup fever is catching on in the golf world and both the teams are seeing its top golfers gearing up for the patriotic showdown. Ahead of the upcoming BMW PGA Championship, McIlroy took to an interview and was very expressive in his commendation of Edoardo Molinari.

The 34-year-old golfer was high on his acclaim for the Italian professional as he mentioned how “he has delved really deep into the stats” of the game in terms of pairings for fourballs, foursomes, and course setup. Moreover, looking into both the teams and their pros and cons has been one of the things Molinari has done as the European vice-captain while setting the team up for success.

But the twenty-four-time PGA Tour winner was also quick to point out how the numbers have to be taken “with a grain of salt”. And Molinari was part of the team not just as a statistician but as a Ryder Cup veteran and a competitive golfer, which, would help him make the correct decisions despite the same, gaining players’ trust in the process.

The Northern Irish professional expressed his admiration for the 3X DP World Tour winner all the while mentioning how he has formed a very close relationship with some of the players since he does stats for them. Viktor Hovland is one such golfer who received the help of the Italian statistician.

Viktor Hovland receives Molinari’s help

Since turning professional in 2019, Hovland has managed to rake in a total of 9 wins under his belt. The Norwegian golfer, while touching on his Masters performance in 2023 where he finished T7, opened up about how the Italian golfer had mentioned how something was missing from his strokeplay while taking a look at his numbers. Moreover, he put forward the analogy of poker to Hovland and explained to him how his frequencies were “a bit off”.

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Molinari continued with the metaphor as he talked about how one needs to bet and is “supposed to bluff” at times along with knowing how to short side. The 25-year-old’s issue on the course was thus presented to him on a platter as he was let known that his short siding was way more than the average when it came to his game.

The golfer had revealed how his wins, including the recent $3.6 million title, were clinched with the help of the European vice-captain and his play with numbers and data analysis. What do you think of the same? Is Edoardo Molinari the final ingredient to engineer a win at the Ryder Cup? Share your thoughts below.

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