It is a year to the day since Matteo Manassero all but confirmed his return to the DP World Tour with a Challenge Tour victory on home soil. In the 12 months since, the Italian’s emotional triumph has paved the way for a comeback story like few others.
After winning the Copenhagen Challenge presented by Ejner Hessel in May last year, Manassero made it Challenge Tour win number two in a sensational week at Golf Nazionale in the Italian Challenge Open.
In front of huge home support, Manassero rekindled the form that projected him as one of golf’s future stars 13 years prior.
The now 31-year-old made waves back in 2010 as the youngest winner in DP World Tour history with victory in the CASTELLÓ MASTERS Costa Azahar at just 17 years of age. Three more titles on golf’s Global Tour - including the BMW PGA Championship - followed in the next three seasons, with the young prodigy seemingly destined for greatness.
Unbeknownst to those gripped by Manassero’s remarkable rise, it would be 11 years before he would return to the winner’s circle on the DP World Tour.
After a steady decline, the Italian would lose his full playing privileges in 2018 before dropping as low as 1,805th in the Official World Golf Rankings.
After briefly stepping away from the game, Manassero’s comeback began on the Alps Tour, where in 2020 he won his first professional title in seven years. In 2023, a first Challenge Tour win came, before a second followed in front of home support to guarantee promotion back to where it all began.
As for the 2024 season, it’s like Manassero has never been away.
A tied fifth finish in the Investec South African Open Championship last November was a sign of things to come, and it was just a few months later, back in South Africa, that he would record win number five on the DP World Tour.
Rounds of 68-61-67-66 saw him triumph in dominant fashion in the Jonsson Workwear Open at Glendower Golf Club, sparking memorable scenes on the 18th green in fading light. Just last month he made his first U.S. Open appearance since 2016 after coming through Final Qualifying.
It has been a whirlwind 12 months for Manassero following his three-stroke Challenge Tour victory at Golf Nazionale, and as the Race to Dubai enters the Closing Swing he sits 15th in the season-long Rankings and is set to tee it up at Royal Troon for his first Open Championship in five years. There is more to come from the Italian ace.
