British Open 2018: Top five takeaways from Carnoustie

Francesco Molinari had, even before his win at the British Open, quite a successful career. He was a five-time European Tour champion, and his win earlier in July at the Quicken Loans National gave him his first PGA TOUR title. He was part of two Ryder Cup winning teams (in 2010 and 2012), and he qualified (before later withdrawing) to represent Italy in the 2016 Olympics.

So why, then, was he talking retirement earlier this year?

If you missed this in the aftermath of Molinari’s victory, then allow me to catch you up a bit.

Earlier this year, Wesley Bryan played with Molinari at the WGC-HSBC Champions in China. The two clearly got along well, and Bryan – ever the student of the game – kept notes on his conversation with the Italian veteran.

Three cups of coffee a day. Professional Twitter troll. That sounds like the life – but not the life of a newly minted major champion who has yet to sniff 40.

Really, Molinari looks to be on top of every facet of his game. His new sixth-place world ranking is the highest of his career. He’s even run off three wins and two runners-up in his last six worldwide starts. Not many players find their groove at 35, but Molinari doesn’t look like he’s falling off any time soon.

“Carnoustie always seems to produce very special Opens, one way and another,” Molinari told BBC Sport the morning after clinching his first major title.

"“Maybe there wasn’t quite as much drama yesterday but there were a lot of players close to the lead with a chance and I was very proud to handle myself the way I did and to come out on top.”"

Who were those players? Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose, among others. That’s a murderers row of competitors, and Molinari bested them all. That’ll keep anybody going.