Francesco Molinari wins SPOTY 2018 World Sport Star of the Year award
Roger Federer won the prestigious award last year for a fourth time
Francesco Molinari has won the World Sport Star of the Year 2018 award.
The Italian golfer enjoyed a spectacular year with the highlight his first triumph at a major by winning out at The Open 2018 at Carnoustie - becoming his country's first major champion.
Molinari received the award at the Sports Personality of the Year 2018 ceremony in Birmingham after wining out over Simone Biles, Ester Ledecka and Oleksandr Usyk to win the prize.
The 36-year-old also won at Wentworth in the European Tour's flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship.
It was enough to secure him the European Tour's Race to Dubai title, ahead of Ryder Cup partner Tommy Fleetwood.
The pair famously combined at Le Golf National to thrash Team USA 13.5 to 10.5, contributing five points himself from five games for the first time ever.
All of the above allowed Molinari to win the European Tour's Golfer of the Year 2018.
"Winning at Wentworth, in one of our biggest events, gave me a lot of confidence for the summer," Molinari said. "But obviously winning The Open at Carnoustie, becoming my country’s first Major Champion, was incredible.
“To then go on to win the Race to Dubai and be part of that European Ryder Cup team in France was amazing.
"I’ll always look back on this season and be proud of what happened.”
