PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Barring any setbacks, Francesco Molinari is expecting to play in The Players Championship.
Molinari withdrew before the start of his title defense last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, citing a back injury. It was the latest string of bad news for the 37-year-old Italian, who has fallen to No. 28 in the world rankings after now being a year removed from his last top-10 in a stroke-play event.
Molinari said he woke up Thursday morning and was unable to put on his shoes. That’s when he made the difficult decision to pull out of the event, opting for two days of rest, recovery and treatment in Orlando.