British weather brings best out of Edoardo Molinari again at The Belfry

Edoardo Molinari, a two-time European Tour winner on Scottish soil, reckons a 10-handicapper has putted better than him this season - but not in the third round of the Betfred British Masters.

Edoardo Molinari during the third round of the Betfred British Masters hosted by Danny Willett at The Belfry in Sutton Coldfield. Picture: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images .

Helped by a lesson earlier in the week by Andy Paisley, brother of tour player Chris, the 40-year-old Italian found his touch on the greens with a vengeance to storm up the leaderboard on the back of a best-of-the-week 64 at The Belfry

The nine-birdie salvo - he was out in 30 - moved Molinari to nine-under as he chases a first victory on the circuit since landing the Hassan Trophy in Morocco just over four years ago.

“If a 10-handicapper putted from the beginning of the season instead of me, I think I would be doing better,” said Molinari, the older brother of 2018 Open champion Francesco.

“I've known Chris (Paisley) for a long time, I've been helping him and a few of the other guys with their stats and I noticed all the guys working with Andy were improving their putting stats.

“I had been putting so poorly lately, I had been on my own trying to do each thing differently every week and I felt like I needed a bit more structure and definitely some help. He told me a couple of simple things and I'm going with them.

“I didn't putt great the first two days. I still lost quite a few shots on the greens, but the feeling of the putter and the putts I was hitting were much better.

“Today the front nine was really good. I missed a few on the back nine, but you can't make them all.”

Molinari held off Darren Clarke to win the 2010 Scottish Open at Loch Lomond before adding the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles a few weeks later to earn a pick from Colin Montgomerie for the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor.

“It’s not a coincidence,” he said of being back in contention on an inland venue in the UK. “I love the weather, as mad as it sounds, as long as it doesn't rain. When it's cold and windy, I love it, so that's a good starting point.

"Usually in the UK, the scoring is not too low, both times I won in Scotland it was 10-12 under-par.”

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