Tommy Fleetwood was among the first to congratulate Francesco Molinari.
The race was run, the former passing the baton to the latter as the final few hours of the DP World Tour Championship played out behind them.
From one European No 1 to another. Close pals, they clasped hands, shared an embrace and exchanged a couple of pleasantries. There were smiles all round, all genuine, each one sincere.
As Fleetwood has maintained for some time, if he could not hang onto his Race to Dubai crown this week, when the 2018 European Tour came to a close at Jumeirah Golf Estates, then he would not rather anyone else have it than Molinari.
He knew the British Open champion deserved it. The Italian, the first from his country to be clinch the Order of Merit, has experienced a phenomenal season, highlighted by a first win on the PGA Tour, victory at the European Tour’s flagship event at Wentworth, a first major, and a perfect five points from five as Europe stormed to the Ryder Cup.
No other European in history had won all their five matches.
To cap it all off, he is now Race to Dubai champion. By around 800,000 points from Patrick Reed, who snuck into second with a runner-up finish on Sunday. By approximately one million from Fleetwood.
“I'm really struggling for words,” Molinari said. “It's more than I ever dreamed of achieving. I've seen guys that I think are better players than me not winning majors and not winning Order of Merits or Race to Dubai.
"To achieve those things in one single season is just… incredible.”
Molinari, 36, closed out his campaign on Sunday with a 1-under par 71, to finish 6-under for the tournament and in a tie for 26th. He had come into the week knowing Fleetwood, nine years his junior, needed to win at the Earth Course to stand any chance of retaining the Race to Dubai crown.
After a valiant first two rounds, that suddenly felt attainable, but a 74 on Saturday prompted Fleetwood to concede: "You kind of know when your time's up."
He fared significantly better on Sunday, though, carding a 68 to settle in tied-16th.
Usually forthcoming, Fleetwood did not stop for the media afterwards, but there seemed no bitterness in that. Perhaps he was just letting his best buddy bask in the glow of a spectacular achievement.
“Incredible... incredible,” Molinari repeated. "Now I'm going to have time to sit down and relax and really think back about the last few months.
"This morning on the first tee, the announcement as the winner of the Open Championship, Race to Dubai leader - doesn't sound real at the moment.
“You look at the players who have won the Race to Dubai or the Order of Merit before that, and obviously it's only really the top players that have done it. I never thought something like this would happen to me, to be honest, and now it's going to be a challenge to reset before next year and work as hard as I did the past winter and try to reproduce the same golf.
“It's going to be nearly impossible to repeat or to beat that. It's going to take a while to get used to, but I'm looking forward at the same time to next year and I'm sure that there's more good golf to come from me. Hopefully we will see already next year.”
That the season went down to a duel between both halves of "Moliwood" provided the perfect script. The pair fused further their friendship at the recent Ryder Cup, when they went four-for-four together across Friday and Saturday - another historic feat - to secure for Europe what turned out to be an unassailable lead.
"It probably would have been easier or more comfortable playing against someone else and not him, but it is what it is," Molinari said.
"He won last year. He's a great guy and an even better player, and he's going to win, I'm sure, a lot more Race to Dubais. He's a bit younger than me, so it was nice to win one this year.
"I don't have as much golf in front of me as he does, I think."
_____________
Read more:
Francesco Molinari: Highlights of the Race to Dubai champion's historic season
Danny Willett’s wait is over as Englishman ends title drought with DP World Tour Championship win
Shubhankar Sharma caps 'great year' with European Tour rookie award
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
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The First Monday in May
Director: Andrew Rossi
Starring: Anna Wintour, Karl Lagerfeld, John Paul Gaultier, Rihanna
Three stars
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THE TWIN BIO
Their favourite city: Dubai
Their favourite food: Khaleeji
Their favourite past-time : walking on the beach
Their favorite quote: ‘we rise by lifting others’ by Robert Ingersoll
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SNAPSHOT
While Huawei did launch the first smartphone with a 50MP image sensor in its P40 series in 2020, Oppo in 2014 introduced the Find 7, which was capable of taking 50MP images: this was done using a combination of a 13MP sensor and software that resulted in shots seemingly taken from a 50MP camera.
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
RESULTS
Catchweight 82kg
Piotr Kuberski (POL) beat Ahmed Saeb (IRQ) by decision.
Women’s bantamweight
Corinne Laframboise (CAN) beat Cornelia Holm (SWE) by unanimous decision.
Welterweight
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Catchweight 80kg
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Lightweight
Mohammad Yahya (UAE) beat Ramadan Noaman (EGY) TKO round 2.
Lightweight
Alan Omer (GER) beat Reydon Romero (PHI) submission 1.
Welterweight
Juho Valamaa (FIN) beat Ahmed Labban (LEB) by unanimous decision.
Featherweight
Elias Boudegzdame (ALG) beat Austin Arnett (USA) by unanimous decision.
Super heavyweight
Maciej Sosnowski (POL) beat Ibrahim El Sawi (EGY) by submission round 1.
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1. Fasting
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3. Hajj
4. Shahada
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The specs: 2018 Nissan Altima
Price, base / as tested: Dh78,000 / Dh97,650
Engine: 2.5-litre in-line four-cylinder
Power: 182hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 244Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Continuously variable tranmission
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.6L / 100km
Profile
Company name: Marefa Digital
Based: Dubai Multi Commodities Centre
Number of employees: seven
Sector: e-learning
Funding stage: Pre-seed funding of Dh1.5m in 2017 and an initial seed round of Dh2m in 2019
Investors: Friends and family
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
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Price: From Dh126,000
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THE SPECS
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 258hp at 5,000-6,500rpm
Torque: 400Nm from 1,550-4,400rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.4L/100km
Price, base: from D215,000 (Dh230,000 as tested)
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WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
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4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
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2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
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Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
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