Player Blog: Matteo Manassero

Matteo Manassero won two events on the European Tour before his 18th birthday. Having won the Silver Medal for Low Amateur at The 2009 Open, playing alongside Tom Watson, the Italian went on to win an event on Tour in each of the following four years and was ranked inside the top 25 in the world. 

Since then, Manassero's journey has taken several twists and turns and despite falling outside the top 500 in the World Rankings, the 23 year old showed his potential once again last week at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, where he finished third. Matteo sat down ahead of his sixth Open Championship appearance to write this week's Player Blog.

I've just arrived in Troon after being in Inverness last week and I'm feeling good about my game. Last week was great. Under par all four rounds, back in contention on the weekend, I felt like myself again. Of course, there was mixed emotions - relief that I was back in contention again and nerves of course, but it was good nerves. It was the kind of adrenaline that excites you not the kind that makes you miss a shot.

It’s been hard the last couple of years. I’m quite hard on myself, I expect to play well and enjoy myself on the course and that’s what I was missing. It just wasn’t fun anymore. It’s not about shooting 66 or 75. It’s not about shooting, it was that I couldn’t go to sleep thinking I was going to shoot 66 the next day. I needed to have the confidence that I could do that and it took time. Like I put on Instagram, it has been a long journey, and it took a lot of different paths, but now I’ve found it I’m really happy.

I’ve really improved my work since the beginning of the year.I took time away from the game with my team and found out a lot of things about myself. On Tour, you hear a lot of things and you’re under a lot of pressure and you begin to ask a lot of questions. It was important that I took time to answer those questions and make a fresh start. It didn’t just click, it was a process but it’s paying off. I started to feel good things recently, at Valderrama, at Morocco, in China and I started to get my confidence back.

It’s great to be back at The Open. If you had told me at the start of the year that I would be playing in the US Open and The Open, I would have said “how?” but now I’m here. I played well at Oakmont, made the cut on the one of the hardest courses in the world and shot a couple of good scores. Now, after a top three last week, I’m here to play The Open and not because of ranking or the past but because I’ve earned my place.

The Open and the Masters are my two favourite events by far.The Open is just amazing. You can’t buy the feeling you get when the stands are full and you’re walking down the 18th fairway. It’s a great privilege to be here.

Playing The Open in 2009 with Tom Watson was one of the best experiences of my life. I remember walking down the 18th fairway with Sergio and Tom and the grandstands were full of people. Sergio stopped me and said we should let Tom walk ahead. The reaction of the crowd was incredible, I had goosebumps and just couldn’t stop smiling.

On the 16th hole both Tom and I holed really long putts and he came over and gave me a big high five. He was so nice the whole week. It didn’t feel like I was playing with Tom Watson but looking back I have to tell myself I was playing with a legend. After we got done, he said some very nice things. He was really impressed with my putting told me not to change what I was doing too much.

I love links golf.I really like the greens. I played quite a bit of links growing up and something about the putting surfaces helps me see the lines. There’s a lot of big slopes and bumps and putts that break back and forth. I’m not sure exactly what it is about that but I’ve always liked putting on links greens.

Scotland is an amazing place. Especially when the sun’s out and you see the landscape, it’s just stunning. Driving around the country, you feel at peace. The atmosphere, the views, it’s just relaxing. It’s different from what I’m used to back in home in Milan, it’s quieter, the small roads aren’t as busy, it’s really nice. I tried haggis one time, it’s very strong and I’m not sure it’s for me but it was fun to try it. I’ve not tried Irn Bru yet but I’ve seen it around. I think I’ll leave it to locals for now.

They love football here in Scotland and I love it too. I’m a huge AC Milan and Italy fan. I probably know more about football than I do about golf. I was actually at the Italy vs Spain game in the Euros when I was in Paris. The atmosphere there was electric and the team did so well. They have a lot of heart and were unlucky against Germany.

Back home in Italy there’s a lot of talk of The Ryder Cup in 2022. Golf is being written about more now and it’s on TV more than ever before, which is great. There’s a new team pushing golf in Italy and the federation have done an amazing job to get The Ryder Cup to Rome in six years time. It’s one of the biggest events in sport and I think it will inspire a new generation of golfers in Italy. There is a good example in France, who have The Ryder Cup in 2018. They have done a great job and have a lot of good young players coming through so hopefully we can do the same in Italy.