Matteo Manassero hopes to take the confidence gained from last week’s Seve Trophy by Golf+ victory for Continental Europe into the Portugal Masters at Oceânico Victoria Golf Course.
The Italian gained 2½ points for Continental Europe as they won the biennial contest against Great Britain & Ireland for the first time in 13 years in France last week, and now the BMW PGA Championship winner has his sights set on individual glory.
“We improved a record that we definitely needed to improve,” said the 20 year old. “It was a great week. I think it's a wonderful event and I hope they will keep it going, because each player says it's a beautiful week.
“We all have a lot of fun, and even the crowd had a lot of fun. Everybody there could feel the atmosphere is that of a really nice event.”
Speaking of this week’s event in the Algarve, the four-time European Tour winner added: “I think I've come here every year since I was pro. It's a beautiful event and we play in great weather conditions every single time.
“Building my schedule, I was just thinking ‘why should I miss this?’ It's always in my schedule.
“It's a very comfortable place, it's perfect weather and it's a very nice course and usually gets a great field.
“It's one of the best tournaments we play all year on The European Tour schedule, so I'm glad to be back this year again.”
Manassero finished tied 12th here last year, when Shane Lowry won with a 14 under par total, and he expects the winning score to be around 20 under this year.
“It's just a course where there are a lot of birdies made and usually pretty low scores in great conditions,” he said. “So I think it suits the long hitter and the short hitter - just whoever hits the ball well during the week. I think we have a bit of everything with this tournament. It's not only for long hitters.
“Since I came here, it's always been like this: low scoring, unless the wind picks up, but it's forecast to be absolutely perfect. It's going to be a low scoring week. It doesn't bring extra pressure; you just have to play well and make putts.”
