Matteo Manassero holds off Rory McIlroy and Gregory Bourdy to win the Maybank Malaysian Open
Italian teen wonder, Matteo Manassero gave himself the perfect early birthday present by winning the Maybank Malaysian Open by fending off Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy and Frenchman Gregory Bourdy. Manassero will turn 18 this Tuesday and is now both the
first and second youngest person to win on the European Tour.
Manassero made two birdies and an eagle on the 10th hole to finish with a solid four under par 68 despite having to play 27 holes on the last day. This was due to rains that lashed the course and forced most of the field to finish both their third
and final rounds on Sunday. Despite having World No.9 McIlroy and first and second round leader Alex Noren hot on his heels, he managed to keep his cool.
"All the players were doing well. It is not easy to concentrate and stay calm. Fortunately I stayed calm," he said.
Manassero’s last win came last October at the Castello Masters in Spain, which made him the youngest golfer ever to win a European Tour event. And within eleven months of turning professional, he has a second victory to his credit. The win also propels him
to the top 35 on the World Golf Rankings. This means that even though he missed the Masters Tournament last week, he’ll be able to play the other three majors for the first time as a professional golfer.
Manassero added, "It's a great achievement for myself and gets me into the majors - I just missed Augusta but playing the other three will be fantastic."
Rory McIlroy has put the last round of the Masters well behind him and is quite happy with the way he bounced back. Despite shooting a good score of three under par 69, he was two strokes off Manassero’s score of 16 under par. And he had no one to blame
but himself; he made a double bogey on the 15th in his third round and then added another double bogey in his final round.
McIlroy was all praises for the young Italian though, "Matteo is fantastic. He is a great talent - to get two wins on the European Tour before your 18th birthday is pretty special," he said.
"At this moment I'm pretty disappointed but it was a good week. I started off really well in the tournament. To shoot the scores that I did considering the travelling is a pretty good effort," concluded the Irishman.
At second place was Gregory Bourdy, who shot into the lead at the start of the fourth round with a score of five under 67 to finish with 15 under par. Alexander Noren, who led the field for the better part of the event, finished in a tie for fourth place
at 13 under par.
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