Teenager wins Castello Masters
Who was expecting a 17-year-old would win the Castello Masters 2010 at Club de Campo del Mediterraneo, Castellon, Spain?
The Italian, Matteo Manassero, smashed a four stroke lead on Ignacio Garrido to win the purse of $200,000. The Sunday started with a slow pace for most of the field. With Sergio Garcia out of the field, chances were that a Spaniard might
win the title because of the home advantage. However, the prediction turned out to be wrong and no Spanish golfer fell in the top spot.
The winner stepped into the weekend with a 66 in the second round, but could not go any lower. He drafted 67s in both the rounds to compile a score of 16-under-par. Matteo Manassero was surprised at his victory as he was not expecting success
at a very early stage.
While speaking to the press Matteo said, “I really didn't expect it to happen so soon. I was hoping I might do it next year so I am amazed. It's unbelievable”.
The British Amateur champion was chased by a Spaniard Ignacio Garrido. The player started the tournament with a very lazy start. He scored a 70. In the second round he was level headed with the winner with identical scores (66). However, after stepping into
the weekend, the runner-up was seen trailing behind the teenager with a 68. He was followed by Gary Boyd, Peter Lawrie, Joost Luiten and Christian L. Nilsson. The group recorded 11-under-par to take the third place.
Garrido established a tough challenge by drawing three late birdies to match the score with the winner. Despite his efforts, he could only take second place. The Spaniard was pleased with his performance as he saw his hard work paying off.
He said, “I always worked hard for this moment and now I've finally done it's an unbelievable moment. When I made that putt for par on 12 to stay two behind I kept going and I made some great shots coming in, and some good putts. That was the turning point
as well as the birdie on 13. I was very nervous. On the beginning I was nervous and then I was a bit more relaxed and then I was very nervous again at the end”.
Like rest of the field, the player was competing to keep the tour card and he succeeded in it.
Garrido further added that he was not eyeing the trophy. Therefore, after challenging Matteo Manassero, he himself felt like a winner.
The third round leader, Gary Boyd could not keep up his fantastic momentum and scored a 74 in the final round. The English man was pushed into a tie for the third after dropping four shots in a row. In the same group was Christian Nilsson, who shot a 66
in the third round with a fantastic wedge game. The player lost his momentum after bogeying two holes on the front nine.
According to experts, the players who fell in the third group followed the same trend. First they rose in the round that took place on Saturday and later they lost their pace in the final moments. The reason behind the faltering could be the anxiety that
came in the package of the final round.
The same anxiety was experienced by the winner as well when he came close to the final holes, but he took control of it at the right time. Matteo took 20 minutes on the 13th fairway to figure out the best possible way to reach the green and he
did a good job. He smashed three consecutive birdies after that.
The 17-year-old Italian missed the cut in the Portugal Masters after securing a third place finish in the Omega European Masters 2010, but he washed off the black mark with a victory.
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