Teen Spirit - Matteo Manassero

It's a glorious and enigmatic country, Italy, eternally full of surprises and contrasts. as politicians go, it presently has arguably the oldest known lothario in public life. as sportsmen go, it has – 57 years younger than Silvio Berlusconi, so almost old enough to be legitimately invited to a bunga bunga party – one of the world's most prodigiously talented prospects, golfer Matteo Manassero.

After Manassero, then 16, had received the silver medal for finishing as low amateur in the Open championship at Turnberry in 2009, stewart cink stepped up to receive the claret jug. the luckless Tom Watson, as runner-up, was standing with his playing partner of the first two rounds. “one day you'll be here again,” he told the young Italian. as we know so far with andy murray and the “oh, he's bound to win a grand slam some time”, there is no such thing as a certain future champion in sport. Twenty years ago, who would have predicted no majors for Colin Montgomerie?

Ten years ago, who would have said there'd be none for Sergio Garcia? there may never be one for lee Westwood. so Manassero is no cert. But it would be shocker if he was seldom a contender.

He was born on April 19, 1993. until the 2013 Masters has been and gone, he will have a shot at becoming the first teenager to win a major championship since Young Tom Morris did the trick aged 17 in 1868. (annoyingly for analogy purposes, young tom's birthday was april 20.) Manassero was officially the world's no.1 amateur golfer for the last 18 weeks of his career in the unpaid ranks until he turned pro after the 2010 Masters, boasting a resumé that contained, and has continued in similar vein as a pro, a whole host of records: the youngest winner of the Amateur Championship (he beat Sam Hutsby in the 2009 final), the youngest winner of the silver medal (at the 2009 Open, where he played alongside Watson and Garcia for the first two rounds), the youngest competitor in the Masters (2010 – and he made the cut), the youngest winner on the European Tour (at the Castello Masters last October).

“I never sought to set goals like that,” he says in a gentle but firm voice, his excellent English lightly accented in that wonderful way that Romance-language speakers have. “It was very good to achieve those things but very unexpected to do it so soon. For example, the victory. I didn't even imagine I might win a tour event in my first season. Keeping my card was my goal. Once I was certain of that, I had achieved my target and I just tried to keep on playing good golf. But it wasn't in my plans to win a tournament.”

At the Castello Masters in Spain, he birdied the 13th, 14th and 15th holes on Sunday to overtake the stumbling Gary Boyd and eventually finish four shots clear of Ignacio Garrido. “I always worked hard for this moment and now I've finally done it,” he said that evening. “It's an unbelievable moment. At the beginning [of the day] I was nervous, then a bit more relaxed, and then nervous again at the end.”

Tiger Woods famously wrote down certain achievements that Jack Nicklaus had accomplished by a certain age, with the purpose of completing his own tick-box chart in even quicker time. Young achiever as he demonstrably has been, Manassero has not followed suit.

“I don't have goals like that. I know what I want to achieve in the game and of course I want to win major championships, but I'm not saying it should happen by a certain time.”

When you're that age, time might seem as endless as school summer holidays do for children. Manassero is barely out of school, and at the Open in 2009 he declared his intention was to complete his final three years of schooling before turning pro. A high finish at the Open can change all that.

“Yes, to finish my schooling in that way was my plan,” he confirms. “But I changed the plans. I thought very hard about it and in time I will finish my studies while on tour. There is no rush. But thinking about things after the Open [where he finished tied for 13th], I decided to turn professional sooner. I had always intended to turn pro one day and it felt like the time was right. I was never going to have gone to university anyway.

“The timing was partly built around the Masters. I had to stay an amateur for that in order to take advantage of winning the British Amateur, and it would have been such a waste not to do that. It was fantastic to be part of it; a wonderful experience. And then my first start as a professional was in the Italian Open last May. It was exciting to turn pro in my own country.”

It was at his national Open that Manassero first met the man who was his idol, Seve Ballesteros. He had already watched him on television. The young Matteo's mother was worried that he wasn't eating enough food and, by a fluke, she discovered that the only time he would scoff the lot was when he was watching golf on the TV – and Seve was the guy Matteo liked to watch the most. (This, remember, when Seve was well past his prime) “I saw him play in the flesh for the first time at Gardagolf [his local course] at the 1997 Italian Open,” says Manassero. “Then, in 2003, I was introduced to him when the Open was there again because I was a young Italian kid showing the promise of being a good golfer.” As he demonstrated – he holed a huge putt on the practice green while Seve was watching.

“I had become a huge fan on his by watching him on TV, and then I watched videos of his great victories – like the Masters in 1983, when he played with Tom Watson, and the Open he won at St Andrews in 1984. Those are the two clearest memories I have of him playing. He was fantastic. When he was hitting the ball well, no one could touch him because they could not play the incredible shots he could also produce. And then there was his charisma. He was just so exciting. I think he made golf in Europe what it is. His problems came when he was in the fairway, with maybe a simple 7-iron to play. It was like he had to try to shape that shot, too.”

It is because of Seve that Matteo wears green trousers on tournament Sundays. Seve himself always wore blue on the last day, but Manassero has taken his cue from an iconic photo of Seve playing at Lytham during the 1988 Open Championship, which he went on to win – his swing in full and dramatic flow, his navy sweater complemented by a pair of green pants.

“The people at Polo Ralph Lauren showed me that photo,” says Manassero, “and that's where the idea came from. It's a tribute to Seve. I'm not trying to look like him.”

Mention of Seve ineluctably leads us on to the Ryder Cup, the event which he did so much to reinvigorate. Manassero was at Celtic Manor for a while last October. “I had to leave on the Saturday night because I needed to practise for the Dunhill Links. But I watched on Friday and Saturday and it was fantastic, the atmosphere. It really gives you the hunger to be part of it.” But, again, this is not a young man in a hurry. “I would like to play on the team next year and I will try to do that, but it's not one of my goals. Well, it is, but I don't feel I need to be in a rush to play in the Ryder Cup.”

The two Italians who were at Celtic Manor in a participatory capacity have been looking out for their compatriot. “The Molinari brothers have helped me a lot. They explained before I turned pro certain things about handling the life of being on tour. That's important because at first you can't know how it is. You come from amateur golf, where you do travel but it's not the same. In general they are good friends and we spend time together when we are on tour.”

If there is a question mark about his game, it's that he hits hit comparatively short. He's ranked down in the 140s in terms of driving distance, conceding 40-50 yards to such behemoths as Alvaro Quiros. You can therefore imagine that he's pretty accurate. And you'd be right. At the time of writing he was in the top-10 of both the driving accuracy and greens in regulation categories. Furthermore, one would expect he'd gradually get to hit it further with age, as his body fully matures and develops along with his vastly promising career. There's no rush, though.

Matteo Manassero
Born: April 19, 1993 Negrar, Verona / Italy // Height: 5' 11”

the 17-year-old italian is breaking records at every turn. Matteo became the youngest winner in european tour history when he captured the Castello Masters Costa Azahar in october 2010 at 17 years and 188 days, smashing the record held by Danny lee, who was 18 years and 213 days old when he won the 2009 Johnnie Walker Classic. His four-stroke victory – following four rounds in the 60s – earned him the golfer of the Month award and followed him becoming the second youngest european tour member in history, after Seve Ballesteros. He was subsequently named Sir Henry Cotton rookie of the year for 2010.

After becoming the youngest, and first italian, winner of the Amateur Championship in June 2009, after beating england's Sam Hutsby in the final, Matteo went on to become the youngest winner of the silver medal awarded to the leading amateur in the open Championship at turnberry. He broke further records in April last year when he became the youngest player to make the cut at the Masters (Bobby Cole's record having stood since 1967), where he finished in a tie for 36th place in what was the best performance by a european amateur for 73 years. He is coached by former european tour member Alberto Binaghi, who was on his bag at Augusta last year.