Italy’s Francesco Molinari displayed nerves of steel to withstand Carnoustie’s testing layout, blustering windy conditions and a posse of the game’s biggest names in pursuit, to claim his first major championship title with a two-shot win at The Open Championship.

The win jumped Molinari and Italy to No. 4 in the Melbourne World Cup of Golf standings. The highest-ranked player from the top 28 countries based on the Official World Golf Ranking as of 3 September will officially qualify for the World Cup of Golf, which is set to be contested 21-25, November 2018 at The Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Molinari’s historic win is the first major golf championship victory by an Italian while setting the record-low total score at the historic Scottish links course. The previous best finish by an Italian player in a major was Costantino Rocca’s runner-up effort to John Daly at the 1995 Open at St Andrews.

Playing alongside the Italian, 14-time major winner and 2019 Presidents Cup captain Tiger Woods reached the top of the leaderboard mid-way through the final round, but Molinari, was the supreme example of consistency, playing his final 37 holes without a bogey. With birdies on holes 14 and 18, he finished on 8-under-par to prevail by two shots from Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, England’s Justin Rose and Americans Xander Schauffele and Kevin Kisner. Woods finished one shot further back at -5.

Molinari, who won the World Cup of Golf with brother Edoardo in 2009, has also played in the past seven editions including the last two in Melbourne (at Royal Melbourne in 2013 and Kingston Heath in 2016) on both occasions partnering with Matteo Manassero. Molinari is arguably “the hottest player on the planet,” having recorded three wins in his past six international starts with victories at the PGA TOUR’s Quicken Loans National and the European Tour’s BMW PGA Championship.

Here is a look at the current rankings as of 23 July. The highest-ranked player from the top 28 countries will officially qualify as of Monday, 3 September. The deadline for the exempt players to commit is 5 p.m. USA eastern time Thursday, 13 September, and the deadline for the exempt player to select his partner is 5 p.m. USA eastern time Thursday, 20 September.

The Melbourne World Cup of Golf is one of five tournaments that are co-sanctioned by the International Federation of PGA Tours, joining the four events in the World Golf Championships series as tournaments which the Federation oversees. The International Federation of PGA Tours is an organization made up of all Tours from across the globe including the PGA TOUR, European Tour, Japan Golf Tour, the PGA of Australia, the Asian Tour, South African Tour and more.

Ticket options range from Wednesday practice round tickets starting at $16.00, single-day competitive round tickets starting at $24.00 and tickets to the upgraded MacKenzie Club (Thurs-Sun) starting at $80.00. Weekly tickets are also available for $96, with a MacKenzie Club option priced at $295. Fans are encouraged to secure their tickets early in order to save.

Ticket buyers are reminded that youth under the age of 16 are admitted to the event free of charge when accompanied by a ticketed adult. To purchase tickets or find more information on ticket options, fans can log on to www.WorldCupofGolf.com.