Matteo Manassero is in the midst of one of those spectacular stories that any lover of not only golf, but sport in general, must hear about. After his meteoric rise as a teenager, a catastrophic slump, followed by a gradual return to form, he is now bidding for a place among the best players in the world once again.
Only the Italian knows how much he had to suffer to get back to where he is now. He arrives at this week’s ACCIONA Open de España presented by Madrid as the field’s highest-ranked player in the Race to Dubai. He currently lies in fifth place after being on the verge of victory two weeks on the trot, at the Irish Open and at Wentworth. His win in South Africa earlier this season was the culmination of years of blood, sweat and tears. Since then, the flow has returned to his game that he has been missing for so many years. A move to the PGA Tour looks to be on the cards. “I wasn’t expecting things to go so well this year, but the reality is that I’m playing very freely and I’ve managed to make the most of my chances”, admitted the Italian.
The Verona native introduced himself to the golfing world at the age of just 16. In 2009 he became the youngest ever winner of the British Amateur Championship, earning himself a spot in that year’s Open, where he won the silver medal for the best amateur. He was also the number one amateur in the world until the end of that year.
In 2010 he became the youngest player to play at the US Masters, before turning professional at the age of 17. That October he would win the Castellon Masters to become the youngest winner in the history of the European Tour and in April 2011, in Malaysia, he claimed his second title to become the only golfer to have won twice on the circuit before the age of 18.
He would go on to win one title per year (Singapore Open in 2012 and the prestigious BMW Championship in 2013), before his game suddenly imploded. He missed 15 consecutive cuts between 2015 and 2016 as the result of a total lack of confidence in his game after an attempt to change his swing in a search of more distance. From number 25 in the world at his peak, he plummeted to number 1,705.
However, Matteo never threw in the towel and his pride was not dented by having to play lower-tier events in order to gradually find his way back to the elite of world golf. In 2020, just after lockdown, he played three events on the third-tier Alps Tour, where seven years after his last victory, he finally topped the leaderboard again in Tuscany. The following year he travelled the world playing the Challenge Tour, where two wins opened the path for him to return to the DP World Tour. Now with the maturity that comes with having been to hell and back, Manassero knows that what he has to do is enjoy himself. His new approach has immediately borne fruit. The Italian has won again this season and has high hopes for his week in Madrid: “I like this course, I think I have a chance, although I think you have to play courses like this a lot to get the most out of them. I played here in 2019 and didn’t do great, but I’m feeling good after the Irish Open and Wentworth”.
Could 2024 be Matteo’s year in Madrid? Tune in to find out…
