Matteo Manassero looks into the distance. Just turned 30, the former baby prodigy of world golf says he is “ready to start the second phase of my career. Luckily I have a lot of golf ahead of me.” The words come on the eve of the double stage of the Challenge Tour in the United Arab Emirates.
The calendar of the second continental circuit includes the Abu Dhabi Challenge (from 27 to 30 April) and the UAE Challenge (4-7 May). To collect one of the rare interviews of the Italian professional is Golf Digest Middle East.
My colleague Matt Smith briefly retraces Manassero’s past: his first victory at the age of sixteen, his five successes on the Tour and his entry into the top thirty of the world rankings in 2013. In the months following the onset of the crisis: in 2014 a fourth place at the Scottish Open, in 2013 only six cuts passed in 22 games played in 2015.
A slow descent that led the blue to lose the card to play on the DP World Tour. “I simply didn’t play well – explains Manassero -. Golf is a difficult sport, sometimes it happens. The game begins to go wrong, then that direction also creeps into the mental side and so it can become a vicious circle from which it is difficult to get out”.
Matteo Manassero, statements
Matteo Manassero drew a nice line about those years. “During Covid I worked a lot on the mental aspect, I worked on how to talk to myself thanks to my mental coach. Then I concentrated on the game.” His present is now called the Challenge Tour: “I feel good.
This is a very fun circuit, if you get the right week right and win, you are guaranteed to stay high in the standings and can concentrate on the final stage”. His future won’t be called the Ryder Cup in Rome. But the fact doesn’t scare him.
Matteo Manassero supports Italy: “We have seen the legacy he left to Spain after Valderrama. John Rahm and Carlota Ciganda were born. The strength of the Ryder Cup can really launch golf in our country. It is an opportunity to show the world what we have to offer and then become a source of inspiration for future talent”.
