Thorbjorn Olesen edges Francesco Molinari for Italian Open title

Thorbjorn Olesen is up to five European Tour wins in his 20s by holding off hometown hero, Francesco Molinari, at the Italian Open

Thorbjorn Olesen is consistently inconsistent.

The Dane has sneakily built a very impressive resume on the European Tour. His win Sunday at the Italian Open is the fifth in his career by age 28 and comes against a talented field.

Olesen’s now won an event in five of the past seven years and also has a 2017 GolfSixes win under his belt with Lucas Bjerregaard.

While we aren’t surprised to see him win anymore, his timing is very sporadic.

Olesen came into this week with no finishes higher than 10th in nine starts in 2018 and only two inside the top 30. When he won the Turkish Airlines Open in 2016, he was fresh off of eight missed cuts in has last 11 starts (all without a top-25).

The Turkish Airlines Open was a Race to Dubai Final Series event and the Italian Open a part of the Rolex Series.

He’s prone to shoot low numbers — he averages 18-under in each win — but is still working to do that more on weekends.

"“I feel like over the last couple of years, I’ve gotten more consistent but I haven’t got enough top-10s and I haven’t been in contention enough, and that’s basically come down to Saturday and Sunday because I’ve been in a decent position on Fridays in a lot of tournaments, but haven’t played good enough over the weekends,” Olesen said. “But this week, I did, which was nice. But I feel like I’m getting better. I feel like I’m definitely a better golfer than I was five or six years ago.”"

How he got it done

Olesen was in or near the lead from the word “Go” this week. Seeing Gardagolf for the first time, along with the rest of the field, Olesen fired an opening six-under 65 on Thursday to share the 18-hole lead.

He made just three bogeys all week and shot 68 and 65 to enter Sunday one behind Lee Slattery who set the course record at 62 on Saturday.

Scores were low all week as Slattery entered Sunday with a 16-under total. That theme continued on the final day with everyone in the top 10 shooting in the 60s.

None of the top 29 finishes were over par on Sunday.

Oh, Thunderbear! ⚡ 🐻

Olesen moves into the outright lead. Six to play. pic.twitter.com/fEeZ8XnCq8
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 3, 2018

Olesen wasted no time catching Slattery with a birdie on the par-4 first. The two were tied at 18-under making the turn with heavyweights Molinari (-17) and Rafa Cabrera Bello (-16) lurking.

Slattery couldn’t much going on the back nine. He made eagle on the par-5 15th to reach 19-under but by then Olesen was cruising along two shots ahead.

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Olesen’s bogey-free back nine made the difference in holding off a charging Molinari.

Carried by his adoring fans, Molinari birdied five of his last six holes including a 30-footer for birdie on the last to force Olesen in the group behind to make par on the No. 1 handicap hole.

Olesen found the right greenside bunker on his approach to the 18th. With plenty of green to work with, Olesen splashed out to about eight feet and rolled in the clutch putt.

"“Unbelievable. Obviously been a little bit of a tough time for me this year,” Olesen said. “Yeah, to come into this Rolex Series and to do what I’ve done is amazing, especially to come-from-behind and win. I haven’t done that in my career so far, so that was very special.”"

Olesen’s putter has been the best club in his bag this season (19th in putts per round). It came up big for him again as he led the field with 26.3 putts per round. He needed magic on the greens after finishing 70th of 73 golfers in driving accuracy (46.4%).

Next: Tiger Woods: Abysmal putting ruins week at Memorial

Chip shots: Quotes and stats from this week on the European Tour

“I haven’t played my best golf this week tee-to-green. I’m proud of the way I fought today.” – Francesco Molinari
A final-round 63 propelled Lee Westwood (-17) to a T5, his first top-five since September.
- Joining him in a tie for fifth was Graeme McDowell who hadn’t finished in the top five worldwide since 2016.
Martin Kaymer, the midway leader, finished T8 for his best finish of the year. In a tie with him was Danny Willett who made just his second cut of 2018.
Miguel Angel Jimenez still has it at age 54: the Spaniard finished T14 and shot 63 on Sunday. He mostly sticks to the PGA Tour Champions these days, but when he plays on the European Tour, good things happen. He’s made four straight top-20s going back to 2017.
Other notable results: 4. Rafa Cabrera Bello (-18); T8. Ian Poulter (-16); T14. Thomas Pieters (-15); T23. Tommy Fleetwood (-12), Alex Noren (-12); T30. Matt Fitzpatrick (-11).

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