Francesco Molinari's sensational Open Championship win has catapulted the Italian to the top of the European Team Ryder Cup standings and he's now a lock to be facing the Americans on September 28 in Paris.
Going into Sunday's final round, the Open Championship leaderboard was dominated by Americans. Jordan Spieth and Xander Schauffele led the way on eight under par whilst Kevin Kisner and Tiger Woods were also prominent. As the Americans faded in the wind at Carnoustie, European fans will have been buoyed by the performance on Molinari and Justin Rose who had made birdie on the 18th green on Friday night just to make the cut, before shooting 64, 69 at the weekend to finish in a tie for second place.
Also in a tie for second two shots back from Molinari was Rory McIlroy who never really got his final round going until he sensationally eagled the par five 14th.
The Americans have been long time favourites to win the Ryder Cup, since winning the last edition two years ago in such dominant fashion at Hazeltine. Molinari's win broke a run of four Americans winning the major championships, Brooks Koepka twice (2017 & 2018 US Open), Justin Thomas (2017 PGA Championship) and Patrick Reed winning the Masters.
It'll come as a real boost for European captain Thomas Bjorn who tweeted:
What a day. What a week. What a year. Congratulations @F_Molinari
Molinari has jumped to World number 6 following his win in the OWGR, but the top ten is still dominated by the Americans who will make for fierce opponents at Paris National at the end of September.
Molinari went into the week sitting in fourth place in the Ryder Cup rankings. The Italian won the PGA Championship at Wentworth in May which pretty much guaranteed his third appearance for Team Europe. A win on the PGA Tour a few weeks ago, nobody is striking the ball as well as Molinari at the moment and he came out of the pack on Sunday at the Open with a faultless two under par 69 to win by two shots, going 37 holes without a bogey in the process.
The win dethroned Tyrrell Hatton from the top of the Ryder Cup standings whilst Justin Rose who finished second remains second place in the rankings.
There were no other big moves bar Eddie Pepperell who backed up his win in Qatar at the start of the year with a top ten finish at Carnoustie. With the WGC Bridgestone and USPGA Championships to come in the upcoming weeks there's still time for someone to jump out of the pack and into Thomas Bjorn's team.
As it stands, the likes of Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson and Ian Poulter will all be battling it out for a captain's pick.
Although Molinari will be making his third appearance for Europe, he's yet to win a match, recording just two halve points in both of his appearances thus far. The Italian is a different player now however and will be an excellent partner in the fourballs with his laser like precision off the tee and pure ball striking. Perhaps the Vardon trophy won't be going back to the US after all...
