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Francesco Molinari has vowed to learn from his Masters battle with Tiger Woods after missing out on a second major title at Augusta National.<\/p>\nFrancesco Molinari has vowed to learn from his Masters battle with Tiger Woods after missing out on a second major title at Augusta National.<\/p>\n
Molinari took a two-shot lead into the final round and was still two ahead with seven holes to play, only to hit his tee shot on the daunting par-three 12th into Rae\u2019s Creek to run up a double bogey.<\/p>\n
The Open champion responded with a birdie at the next and was part of a five-way tie at the top of the leaderboard until he again found the water with his approach to the par-five 15th to card another double bogey, eventually settling for a share of fifth place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe energy out there was brilliant with Tiger being there,\u201d said Molinari, who also played alongside Woods in the final round at Carnoustie last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m proud of the way I stayed calm, even after making mistakes. I gave it my best so I am proud of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Molinari\u2019s previous best result in the Masters was a tie for 19th but since finishing 20th last year the 36-year-old has embarked on an extraordinary run of form.<\/p>\n
As well as becoming the first Italian to win a major championship, Molinari won the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, his first PGA Tour title in the Quicken Loans National \u2013 a tournament hosted by Woods \u2013 and he became the first European to compile a perfect 5-0 record in the Ryder Cup.<\/p>\n
Molinari, who also won the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in March, added: \u201cI learnt a lot from today, from the whole week.<\/p>\n
\u201cNext year it won\u2019t be a course where I have never played well before, I\u2019ll have a few good rounds under my belt.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think on the back nine there were just a couple of instances of not being aggressive enough and I lost focus a little bit but it\u2019s a long week and it\u2019s not easy to hit every shot 100 per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n