Matteo Manassero eager to play on his home turf, The Sicilian Open after a strong finish in Morocco
The 18-year-old Italian, Matteo Manassero, who can be easily regarded as the best golfer to come out of the country in recent times, is now hoping to land the Sicilian Open title this week playing alongside some of the giants of Italian golf.
Manassero will be tee-ing off with heavyweights of the likes of Godfather of Italian golf, Costantino Rocca, former Tour winner Emanuele Canonica and several other 2011 Challenge Tour graduates Andrea Pavan and Federico Colombo.
Manassero will be playing on the home turf for the first time in his short but impressive career.
He said, “I am really happy to be playing in Sicily in front of my home crowd, in my own territory”.
The event will be returning to Verdura Golf and Spa Resort for the second year in continuation and will have a whooping purse of €1,000,000.
Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin will be defending his European Tour title here at the scenic course, facing the breezy Mediterranean Sea.
Manassero has done considerable homework on the course and will be hoping to tame the wild Mediterranean winds amid a strong field.
He added, “I have never played the course, but I hear it is going to be tough and the wind will blow because it is by the sea. It is going to be tough and it looks really scenic and it will be an interesting challenge”.
Manassero barely missed a chance to be part of the field at the coveted Masters next month. He needed a victory at the Trophee Hassan II in order to break into the top-50 on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR).
He has performed consistently well in the last two European Tour events but has not been able to bag a title as yet.
Manassero lamented missing a chance to be part of the field at Masters but hoped that his bid in Sicilian Open will be successful.
He said, “I don’t feel like I have missed out on Augusta. I don’t have any sadness about not going there because I have a great chance to win in Italy this week, and that would be a great achievement”.
Manassero has won two European Tour titles in his short but impressive career including the Castelló Masters Costa Azahar and the Maybank Malaysian Open last year.
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