DP World Tour : Hero Dubai Desert Classic Tee Times Leaderboard
Today Francesco Molinari now 43, ranked a distant owgr 418, has posted an 8 birdie 1 bogey -7 65 to take the clubhouse lead at this prestigious Hero Dubai Desert Classic.
In 2018, he was on top of the golfing world....
He won the Open Championship at Carnoustie, paired with Tiger Woods in the final round, having won the BMW PGA Championship earlier n the year to beat Rory McIlroy, he shot a Sunday 62 to win the Quicken Loans on the PGA Tour by 8 shots

Francesco Molinari of Italy kisses the trophy after winning the British Open. (Peter Morrison/AP)
At the Ryder Cup in France he was undefeated, 5-0-0 beating Phil Mickelson in singles, then won the Race To Dubai. He was the European Tour Player of the Year, won the BBC World Sports Star of the Year and was awarded the Golden Collar of Sports Merit.
He was still hot in 2019 winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Much is made of Tiger winning the 2019 Masters, but the fact is, Molinari,, stunning the American media, was the 54 hole leader at -13 two holes clear of Tiger and Tony Finau, putting on a masterclass of iron play and putting.
He still led after 11 holes until he found the water at 12 for a double, and then a bad break at the 15th where his approach clipped an overhanging tree branch, landing in Rae's Creek for another double to hand the lead to Tiger. Frankie finished T5,
Little has been heard from him since although he has been playing, he moved his family to California, to play on the PGA Tour in 2019, and has become an Alternate Captain on the Ryder Cup team. .... more to follow
Francesco Molinari rolled back the years with a stunning 65 to lead by two shots after a windy first round at the 2026 Hero Dubai Desert Classic.
The Italian, who has not been in the winner's circle since claiming The 147th Open Championship at Carnoustie in 2018, made light work of the breezy conditions at Emirates Golf Club thanks to eight birdies and one dropped shot.
Molinari has returned to form after an indifferent 2025 DP World Tour campaign with a top-ten finish at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in honour of Gary Player in December before making the cut at last week's Dubai Invitational.
However, Molinari - already a Rolex Series winner at the 2018 BMW PGA Championship - finished his round with three consecutive birdies to carve open a two-shot advantage and take the overnight lead.
"Not super unexpected, but I wasn't expecting a score like that," Molinari admitted.
"Last week I felt very rusty, so I was hoping it would be very good prep for this week.
"Yeah, putter was the biggest difference to be honest. Made some nice putts. Kept the round going in the middle where I played a couple of iffy holes and made some good pars. Obviously very, very pleased with the start.
"It's tricky, but I did a good job of staying in the moment. Like we always say, not get too flustered one way or the other, and at the end of the day, obviously you add them up and it's pretty good."
JC Ritchie started with an eagle at the tenth before birdies at the 13th and 18th offset a bogey at the 15th.
The South African moved to within one of Molinari with a hat-trick of birdies from the second, but he double-bogeyed the sixth and finished at 68 -4
Swiss player Girrbach opened with a bogey, but bounced back with an eagle and three birdies for his 68.
Japan's Yuto Katsuragawa, China's Wenyi Ding, Spaniard Manuel Elvira, Italy's Andrea Pavan, Germany's Nicolai von Dellingshausen and American pair Patrick Reed and Johannes Veerman were in a share of fifth at 69 -3
Play was suspended at 5.50pm local time due to darkness, with nine players to complete their first rounds on Friday morning.
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus
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