Ryder Cup 2025: Golf and the Data Revolution

Team Europe enters the 2025 Ryder Cup with the backing of statistical software created by Dodo Molinari, which brought victory in 2023.

Statistician

Behind the 12 brilliant stars that make up the European team for the 2025 Ryder Cup are five vice-captains supporting captain Luke Donald: Thomas Bjorn, Alex Noren, Francesco Molinari, Jose Maria Olazabal and Edoardo Molinari.

The fifth name is the one with the least experience and achievements, although he is perhaps the most indispensable piece of the Old Continent's squad.

European team for Ryder Cup 2025. Photo: EFE

The Italian golfer can boast three DP World Tour wins and a Ryder Cup title, but he has struggled with injuries recently.

The most recent injury was to his hand, which required surgery. “I studied engineering in Italy and when I started playing, I also paid a lot of attention to numbers in my game,” he said in a conversation with El Mundo on the eve of the 2025 Ryder Cup (taking place from 6:10 pm today, Hanoi time).

While he awaits bigger challenges, Molinari is now a leading statistician in golf 's technological revolution.

“Just before Covid-19 came, a few golfers came to me for help, they started playing well and spoke well of me. Now we can say that is my main job . ”

Dodo – as Molinari, who was born in Turin, northern Italy, is known to his family and friends – manages a team of four people dedicated to his company, working with about 40 golfers, both in Europe and the US.

Basis for decision making

Dodo's main task in the European team is to report to Donald using all available statistical information.

Molinari and captain Luke Donald with success at Rome 2023. Photo: FederGolf

“We have a lot of numbers. Our job is to tell Luke how the team is playing, which pairings might work and which ones might not,” the 44-year-old golfer explained.

“We work a lot with statistics, who plays better on a course like Bethpage. The numbers give you a basis to make a decision” .

Dodo has created a software that many of the world's largest management companies are trying to copy.

“Since I started five years ago, there’s been a lot of things to add: live data, how the afternoon session plays versus the morning session, which holes are easier, which are harder. Is it better to play a hole safe or aggressive and hit a better driver…” he analyzed.

Once the golfers on the team are complete, Molinari knows the best formula to pair them up .

“Usually, it’s better for them to complement each other. A strong tee hitter and a good iron hitter usually work. Teaming up is like cooking a good paella,” he joked.

Molinari and his colleagues not only analyze their team's statistics, but also those of their opponents.

“We have all the statistics, ours and theirs, everyone's. That way you also control their strengths and weaknesses. That's what we did at Rome 2023 and it worked . ”

Dodo Molinari (left) and Olazabal at Bethpage Black. Photo: Hugo Costa/EM

In the data-saturated universe of other sports , golf experienced a turning point when the Strokes Gained statistic appeared in 2011.

“It measures how much better and worse you are than the league average in each part of the game ,” Dodo explains.

“It gives you a look at each part of your game compared to the average of the golfers in the tournament . ”

But statistics don't measure the complex emotions or atmosphere Europeans faced at Bethpage Black. Molinari confirmed that Donald's orders were to avoid conflict.

“We had a lot of conversations with Luke and the golfers. You have to limit the provocative actions of the audience, the gestures. You don't want to engage in a battle against tens of thousands of New Yorkers, you will waste a lot of energy and it doesn't help anything . ”

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/ryder-cup-2025-khai-mac-golf-va-cuoc-cach-mang-cong-nghe-2446384.html