Francesco Molinari congratulated the Brisbane Lions. Here’s why.

March 24, 2019

One of the strangest tweets from the golf world over the weekend was this congratulatory message to the Brisbane Lions from Francesco Molinari.

A tweet from Francesco Molinari over the weekend had us wondering if Jimmy Fallon was at work. Or at least a similar prank.

The Open champion sent his congratulations to Brisbane’s AFL team after their resounding first round win over last year’s premiers, West Coast Eagles.

Well done Chris Fagan and the @brisbanelions for their first win today! Keep up the good work!

— Francesco Molinari (@F_Molinari) March 23, 2019

And the tweet had many golf fans scratching their heads? Molinari? A Brisbane Lions fan?

Molinari’s connection to the Brisbane Lions most likely comes from performance coach Dave Alred who has worked with both Molinari and the Brisbane Lions, as well as well as other big name athletes such as Luke Donald and Jonny Wilkinson.

And take a look at who Alred was working with yesterday.

Great day @The_Wisley working with @Dpugh54 & @F_Molinari creating ‘fix it before it breaks’ repair sequences – love working in such a mentally fertile environment @TrackManGolf @TaylorMadeTour @adidasUK pic.twitter.com/hz81JK6VhI

— Dr Dave Alred MBE (@dave_alred) March 22, 2019

And… Lions coach Chris Fagan spent some time in the UK during the off-season. Fagan spent a day hanging out with Alred and Molinari at his home course in Surrey, UK – and he blogged about it.

When Dave found out that I was going to be in London this month he invited me to come along and watch a training session with Francesco. What an opportunity!

I’ve got to say it was an absolute pleasure and a great learning experience to watch Fran train.

Dave pushes him hard and designs training that is tougher than tournament play.

Fran embraces this and works his hardest to make every shot that he plays count. He trains at an incredible intensity and his ability to concentrate on what he is doing is impressive.

We’re still not sure if Molinari even follows the Lions in any form or this was sent out with a bit of pressure from Alred but all the same, the Lions are off to a great start this season.