The Marvelous Molinaris Make History... Again

Over the past 10 months, Francesco and Edoardo Molinari have made history numerous times.

It happened twice in one tournament when they won the OMEGA Mission Hills World Cup last November. There they were the first pair of brothers AND the first Italians to ever win the event.

Then there was Accenture Match Play in February, where they became the first set of brothers to take part in a World Golf Championships event.

Writing about the Molinari brothers in early April, ESPN Golf Columnist Jason Sobel noted that they were about to become the first brothers in a decade to compete together in the Masters.

And after Edoardo Molinari's extraordinary win at the Johnny Walker Championship today, the brothers are poised to become the first siblings to play together on a Ryder Cup Team in almost 40 years. Edoardo grabbed one of the Captain's pick spots today with his amazing Gleneagles victory, Francesco had already made the team, and both were inspired by Italian golf icon Constantino Rocca, who played on the 1993, 1995 and 1997 teams and is only Italian ever to make the Ryder Cup... till now.

I've written about the Italian siblings a number of times over the past year... so much so that some readers seem ready to attribute me with ownership of the prodigious pair, at least figuratively, as in: "you must be happy to see "your Molinari brothers" at the top of the leader board."

OK, wishful thinking. But I'm simply a fan, like an increasing number of other Americans, and of course I've been happy to see them doing well this summer because they're brothers, which is heartwarming, and because they come from an awesome country where there's extraordinary potential for golf to grow.

So here's the deal: Two brothers win the World Cup AND compete together in a World Golf Championship event plus... two majors, AND play on the same Ryder Cup team... all within a one year period. That's certainly a fraternal feat for the golf history books.

Many are second guessing Colin Montgomerie's newly announced Captain's choices, but few are questioning the one called Molinari.

Photographs: Ian Walton/Getty Images