Francesco Molinari stepped to the 9th tee box -- his final hole of Round -- late Friday a couple strokes outside the cutline at the 2024 U.S. Open and likely considering his travel plans out of Pinehurst, North Carolina. Needing to pick up two strokes with one swing of the club, the former Open champion did exactly that when he made a rare hole-in-one on his par-3 finisher.
Molinari's ace was the second of the day on the par-3 9th as Sepp Straka accomplished the same during the morning wave, albeit with less fireworks. After making bogey on the par-4 8th, Molinari dropped to 7 over for the championship, but his hole-in-one catapulted his name onto the weekend tee sheet and put the finishing touches on his second-round 72.
💥 ACE ON THE LAST TO GET INSIDE THE PROJECTED CUT! 💥@F_Molinari with the ultimate do or die moment! pic.twitter.com/XoqmvaDNpi
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 14, 2024
Molinari's year has been a struggle as he arrived at Pinehurst having not collected a paycheck across his last four tournaments. In fact, the 41-year-old Italian has made just three weekend appearances so far in 2024 with his best result on the PGA Tour coming at The Players Championship in the form of a T54 finish.
No matter where he ends up this weekend, Molinari will always have this memory to cherish as he makes his first cut in the U.S. Open since the 2021 championship at Torrey Pines.
