Matteo Manassero
Matteo Manassero has already achieved so much in his fledgling career that it is hard to believe he has yet to play in the United States as a professional.
The 17 year old Italian, who has a European Tour victory and a string of records to his name, will make his debut appearance in America since joining the paid ranks in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship this week, having risen to 57th in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Yet another record will be smashed in Tucson, Arizona; at 17 years and 310 days, he is the youngest player to play in a WGC event, beating the previous one set by Ryo Ishikawa, who was 18 and 153 days old at the start of last year’s tournament.
Manassero has left a trail of broken records in his wake as he has risen to golfing stardom in the last couple of years. His only other appearance in America was at the Masters Tournament, aged 16 and still an amateur, where he became the youngest player to make the cut and, in finishing tied 36th, produced the best performance by a European amateur for 73 years.
It will be a match-up of youth versus experience at Ritz Carlton Golf Club as Manassero is drawn in the first round against Steve Stricker, who at 44 is the second oldest player in the field after Miguel Angel Jiménez.
Stricker has a fine record in match play – evidenced by his winning three points from four at The 2010 Ryder Cup – but Manassero will not be fazed by his opponent. At The 2009 Open Championship, a confident 16 year old from Turin wowed the golfing world with a performance that belied his tender years, relishing the opportunity of playing with veteran Tom Watson and Spanish star Sergio Garcia in the first two rounds to eventually win the silver medal in a tie for 13th place.
The Junior Ryder Cup player had already been tipped as one to watch after his victory in the Amateur Championship, where he was the youngest – and first Italian - winner in history, but his showing at Turnberry really put Manassero on the radar.
His Amateur Championship victory also opened up a route to Augusta National the following April, where he again showed he can mix it with the game’s big guns. “Definitely it will help me in all areas to play with these guys, be comfortable with this crowd and to understand that I can compete with these guys,” Manassero said at the time.
"It's very important. Playing on a course like this obviously makes you understand that you can play on every course."
Manassero went from strength to strength during the rest of 2010, winning the Castelló Masters Costa Azahar and finishing second and third at the UBS Hong Kong Open and the Omega European Masters respectively. He became the second youngest European Tour Member, after his hero Seve Ballesteros, and was named the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year.
Next Manassero can turn his attentions to the other side of the Atlantic, where he will hope to emulate his countryman Francesco Molinari, who triumphed at the WGC-HSBC Champions late last year, in winning a WGC event. Indeed, it is a fine time for Italian golf with Francesco’s older brother Edoardo also making waves on The European Tour and the two siblings teaming up to win the Omega Mission Hills World Cup in November 2009 and The Ryder Cup last October.
Whereas the Molinaris’ rise to the top was fairly steady, however, Manassero’s has been meteoric, and as another record falls this week it is hard to see the teenager not achieving great things in world golf in the next few years.
