Molinari: I had to check if Claret Jug was really there

Open champion Francesco Molinari said he was soon back to reality after becoming the first Italian to win a major.

Francesco Molinari started the days following his Carnoustie triumph by searching for the Claret Jug to check his Open victory had not been a dream.

Molinari made history by becoming the first Italian to win a major last month at one of the toughest courses in the world.

The 35-year-old slept with the famous trophy on the night of his success, but had to go looking for it when he woke up following some major celebrations last week.

He said: "I didn't sleep much that Sunday night. We left Tuesday morning for the holidays, so there wasn't really time to do much apart from the partying and waking up for the first few mornings and looking for the trophy to see if it was really there.

"Apart from that, unfortunately I have a wife who is not really into golf that much and two kids who are at an age where they are happy if they see me winning, but they don't really care too much about that, so after a couple of days reality gets back and just normal life with the family."

Molinari, who will attempt to maintain his outstanding form at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational this week, has already exceeded his expectations this season but says there is no danger of him getting carried away.

Asked if he foresaw his year panning out how it has, he said: "No, I couldn't and I don't think anyone could to be honest.

"Golf is a tough sport and you need to be good at not reading too much into results. I think I did a really good job not reading too much into results early in the season when results were not coming and I don't need to make assumptions now results are coming. 

"It's going to be important to work hard, like I did, and I think the goal going forward is just to keep getting better and see where that takes me.

"I think the biggest adjustment is getting adjusted to the attention and the distractions, if you want to call it that. I'm not the type of player that just turns up and shoots a 62, I need to work at it and be in the frame of mind and that's the job in hand for the next few days and going into next week [at the US PGA Championship]."