In 2018 Francesco Molinari became Italy’s first major champion when he won the Open in Carnoustie, but in another world that accolade might have stood to Matteo Manassero.
Manassero or ‘Manny’ looked to have the world at his feet when he became the youngest ever winner on the European Tour in 2009 and the youngest winner of the BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth in 2013.
Then at a career-high 25th in the Official World Golf Rankings, the Italian prodigy would have been eyeing up major championship tilts, not a decade of obscurity.
After losing his Tour card in 2017 and dropping to a career low 1,805 in the world Manassero found himself battling on the Nordic Golf League and Alps Tour (two tiers below the European Tour) before he finally began to show signs of a recovery in his career when he ended seven years of hell with a win at the 2020 Toscana Open on the Alps Tour.
Since then he has continued to gradually rise back up the rankings and he eventually made it back to the DP World Tour when he finished 9th on the Challenge Tour Order of Merit last year, where he won twice.
In March 2024, Manassero claimed his first European Tour victory in over 10 years at the Jonsson Workwear Open in South Africa.
It’s fitting that Manassero finds himself two shots off the lead at the halfway stage of the Genesis Scottish Open after a blistering 63 having not played in the event for six years and where he opened up on his deep lows in 2016.
It was at this very event in 2013 where a T57 finish saw him move to his highest ever world ranking.
And now, eleven years later, again in the same week, he’s T3 and with a good finish will move to his highest OWGR since his comeback.
Not only that but the 31-year-old is PGA Tour card hunting and at 15th in the Race to Dubai Rankings a good finish at the Renaissance Club can go a long way to helping him on his way across the Atlantic. A journey that seemed unthinkable a few years ago.
Playing on the biggest stages once seemed like Manassero’s birthright. At 16, he finished T13 at the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry, where he played the first two rounds alongside then-59-year-old Tom Watson. He also made the cut at the 2010 Masters before disappearing almost as quickly as he burst onto the scene.
“There is such a long way to go still. But yeah, playing on both tours has been something I wanted to do since I nearly got my card for 2014-15, and it’s something I would like to do now,” said Manassero who has already qualified for next week’s Open Championship.
“Yeah, it’s much easier to put things in perspective after you’ve been through more difficult times on the golf course.
“So I would say because of that, yes, and also, I know much more about me on the golf course, and I think I can handle myself a lot better, and yeah, you can enjoy more the good things that come, and I guess be a little more prepared for the future.”