Matteo Manassero hopes to break into The Masters through Transitions Championship – Golf update
The 17-year-old Italian golf sensation, Matteo Manassero, is eager to find a way into The Masters next month in Augusta. At the moment, all roads lead through the Transitions Championship this week at Copperhead Course. His stunning performance in the WGC
Accenture Match Play Championship helped him considerably in improving his ranking. He started off the tournament triggering an upset, when he thrashed world number eight, American Steve Stricker in the first round and South African Charl Schwartzle in the
third round. Manassero was ultimately defeated by the winner Luke Donald in the quarter-final and settled for ninth place in the tournament. The 2009 amateur champ, won the Castello Cup last October, becoming the youngest winner on the European Tour.
"It's obviously a good opportunity for me to be here to try to get some points, some world-ranking points and see if I can get in Augusta," Manassero said.
The six-foot, 174-pound Italian, however lacks the much needed strength in his shots, which he often compensates with deadly precision. He also said that he has been practicing hard to make his putting more consistent and is quite sure that he has added
10 extra yards to his drives.
"I'm focused on making two good tournaments. I'm pretty close. I'm not far away," he said. "There's a lot involved in the game to get some yardage to carry with the driver, which is obviously important in courses, maybe like Doral, or even Augusta, those
kind of courses,"
The teenager will be teamed up with Spaniard Sergio Garcia and Zach Johnson for the first two rounds. Garcia will be playing after a break of more than one month. He last showed up at the Dubai Classic Golf Championship. Manssero was seemingly upbeat about
the team-up as Garcia had been quite an inspiration for the young golfer."It's very good. We are good friends. We played quite a lot before," said Manassero. "We are quite friendly and know him well. It's definitely a great pairing."
Manassero is currently ranked 55th on the World Ranking and needs to break into top 50 to be eligible to play in The Masters.
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