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Matteo Manassero will return to the DP World Tour after five years. Although the beginning of his career was spectacular, he was already a 4-time DP World Tour winner at the age of 20. Ten years later, he is close to returning to the DP World Tour, after he lost his card in 2018.
In an interview with the media, Manassero emphasized that he had to start all over again, which required patience. “I reflect on the journey I have been on with pride,” Manassero said. “I wouldn’t say I have done everything again from scratch because what I achieved as a young player is always with me, but I needed patience and to go through all the steps.” Manassero decided to rest in 2019, since he could no longer play golf.
Motivation and strength have run out. The Italian no longer enjoyed playing golf like he used to, and he knew that the red alarm was on. “The toughest period was when I stepped away from golf in 2019 for a few months. I literally couldn’t play anymore.
Golf had become too heavy on me. That was a tough realisation. I had always played golf in a free and joyful way, but I knew I had to rebuild myself. Part of that was playing some events on the Alps Tour. At the time I felt that was where I needed to be to restructure my game.”
Matteo Manassero’s season
However, it seems that this 30-year-old has understood certain things.
He decided to change his mentality, to motivate himself, and this season the results arrived. Manassero won in Copenhagen as well as in Italy. “Winning in Copenhagen was special because I had been through a really, really tough journey.
It came on the tenth anniversary of my win at the BMW PGA Championship in 2013, and also brought me closer to my main goal, which was to come back to the DP World Tour. A couple of months later, I took the title at the Italian Challenge Open.
I had never won a tournament of that level on home soil, and to win in front of home crowds meant a lot to me. I always wanted to do that and somehow, I never felt that I could bring my A-game to tournaments at home. I had only played well at the Italian Open on the DP World Tour once and that was years ago.
So being able to do that made me realise that I was finally mentally in the right spot.” Source: Golfmonthly
