Matteo Manassero is back on the DP World Tour for the first time in five years after returning to form on the Challenge Tour in 2023.
The Italian recorded wins in both the Copenhagen Challenge presented by Ejner Hessel and the Italian Challenge Open on home soil to finish ninth in the season-long Road to Mallorca Rankings and secure his return to the Tour where his career took off 13 years ago.
Manassero rose to fame as a 17-year-old back in 2010 at the Castelló Masters Costa Azahar, where he won by four strokes to become the youngest winner in DP World Tour history, a record he still holds to date.
Over the next three years, Manassero would go on to secure three more wins on golf’s Global Tour, including a memorable triumph at the BMW PGA Championship which catapulted him into the world’s top 30.
It was six years later that Manassero would win again as a professional. In 2020 he claimed victory at the Toscana Open on the Alps Tour to kick-start his comeback, and after two years on the Challenge Tour, he’s now back where it all began.
“I'm very pleased that I've had the season I’ve had and I'm excited for what's to come ahead for sure,” he said. “Now this season is over, we move on to the next where there’s new challenges and new goals.
“Result wise, the season didn't start so good for me. At that point I didn’t doubt about my game, I was just frustrated at not playing well, but I knew that I could do something good. Whether that came or not, I understood from the past few years that nothing is guaranteed. You need to be hopeful but you also need to be realistic that it won't happen all the time.
“Copenhagen was a huge relief, to be able to and feel like I could do it again. Then in Rome, I had that weight off my shoulders, so in some ways it was easier but because it was at home it made it extra special.
“I always felt that I underachieved a bit in home tournaments so to perform like I did all week in Rome, in front of a home crowd and in a tough event was big for me.”
The 30-year-old has made a strong start to the new DP World Tour season, making the cut at the Joburg Open before finishing in a share of fifth in the Investec South African Open Championship a week later.
That result marked Manassero’s first top ten finish on the DP World Tour since 2017, and he’s hopeful that more is to come as he continues to plot his rise to the top of the golfing ranks once more.
“I'm proud that I took the right choices,” he added. “I was resilient and kept taking the right choices even at times when results were absolutely not there.
“I'm really happy with what I've done but you know how it is in golf. We're always looking ahead.
“I wouldn't say it's the greatest comeback. I hope to do something more and then maybe it'll be a better story.”
