Francesco Molinari played through pain barrier at Ryder Cup

If you thought Francesco Molinari becoming the first European golfer to win five Ryder Cup matches out of five was impressive, just wait until you hear of the extenuating circumstances he had to deal with at Le Golf National.

The Italian – who won The Open at Carnoustie this summer to seal his first major – was Europe’s star performer in the match a fortnight ago, teaming up with good friend Tommy Fleetwood to win all four matches across the opening two day before taking down Phil Mickelson in the decisive singles match.

All quite incredible… even more so when you consider he was struggling with a back injury.

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Molinari, 35, said he had to dig deep after feeling back pain on the Saturday morning in France.

“I didn’t tell Thomas [Bjorn],” he told ESPN at this week’s British Masters. “At that stage, it wasn’t enough to really compromise my golf. So, I just started taking some anti-inflammatories. It’s a week that you’re sort of pumped up with adrenaline, anyway, that you could probably play on one leg.”

He added that it was got so bad that, by Monday morning, he wasn’t able to tie his own shoelaces.

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“I’m not a kid like Tommy,” he laughed. “I need to manage my energy and my body.”

With that in mind, he’s looking forward to a few weeks off during the upcoming off-season.

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“I’ll play HSBC in China and then Dubai,“ he said. “Obviously, it’s been a great summer but a tiring summer.”