Francesco Molinari moving to California, out until PGA Championship

Francesco Molinari is on the move.

The 2018 Open Championship winner announced on Twitter that he and his family – wife, Valentina, and kids, Tommaso and Emma – are in the process of moving to California after 11 years in London. 

“It’s been a very strange few months for everyone lately, facing challenges that we never even thought possible,” Molinari wrote. “As many of my colleagues, this forced break gave [me] a chance to sit back and think about many things. It mostly made me think about the future and what I want to achieve in the coming years, from a professional point of view but mostly from a family standpoint. This is why we’ve decided to leave London and the U.K. after 11 happy, intense, satisfying and consuming years. The next chapter of our life is going to be in California, where we hope to be safe, happy and to spend more time together as a family. This is what’s keeping me busy now and away from tournament golf.”

The 37-year-old Molinari, who has slipped to No. 30 in the Official World Golf Ranking, hopes to return to action by the PGA Championship in August. He hasn’t played since the opening round of The Players, which was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The week prior to The Players, Molinari withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a back injury.