Matteo Manassero is hoping to put his US Open Championship disappointment behind him and complete a BMW double this week in Munich.
The BMW PGA Championship winner missed the cut at Merion last week, but is still one of thefavouritesin a strong BMW International Open field at Golfclub München Eichenried.
European Ryder Cup stars Sergio Garcia and Martin Kaymer, their US opponent Dustin Johnson and Open champion Ernie Els are all in the field in Germany this week, but Italian Manassero is still full of confidence after his stunning display at Wentworth Club last month.
“Obviously I wanted to do much better last week and I thought the course suited me well, so I could have played well,” said the 20 year old. “But I guess it was theweakpart of my game that let me down a little bit, which is the driver. I didn't drive well enough.
“Actually I didn't drive well at all. Merionisjust very, very tough if you don't drive the ball well. Itwasjust that problem really, I didn't struggle with anything else. It was just the driver thatputme off the fairway too many times, and then it was hard to recover.
“I came pretty close to making the cut anyway. I only needed a good drive on the last and it was probably done, but that's the way it is and we move on. As I said, my confidence is still up.
“It was a great week (at the BMW PGA Championship). I've said this many times, I was really proud of winning the flagship event. It was just a magnificent week, I played good golf and managed in the end to stay focused and pull it off.”
Manassero’s fourth European Tour title took the former Amateur Champion top of The Race to Dubai, and although he was surpassed by Justin Rose when the Englishman became US Open Champion on Sunday, the European Tour’s youngest winner is refusing to get ahead of himself in the battle to become European Number One.
“I think top ten [on The Race to Dubai] would be a great achievement,” he added. “I was 13th last year, so I guess a step forward would be top ten. I'm ingood position
to do it but we're only in June, so there are so many tournaments and we know that this year, at the end of the year, there are so many great tournaments.
“You have to keep your form up, you've got to keep playing well. I guess this stretch this summer is going to be really important for me - after the US PGA we have many events that count for The Race to Dubai and you've got to play well in those. It's nice to be close to the top in The Race to Dubai - that's where I play and where I want to do well.”
