Manassero boosted by Molinari message

Matteo Manassero did just as advised by his fellow Italian Edoardo Molinari when the 17-year-old became the youngest winner on the European Tour on Sunday.

“Edoardo sent me a very encouraging message this morning, saying it would be a very important day and that I should enjoy it,” the teenager told a news conference after his unique victory in the Castello Masters.

Enjoy it he did, capturing the lead with an exhilarating run of three birdies from the 13th to subsequently eclipse the field by four strokes.

His remarkable success while still a schoolboy will boost Italy’s standing further, he said. The country was already on a high following the feats of the Molinari brothers, Edoardo and Francesco who helped Europe to win back the Ryder Cup three weeks ago.

“This win is good for Italian golf as it adds to Edoardo and Francesco’s great performances,” the youngster said.

Manassero’s resounding success will hoist him comfortably into the world’s top 100 and it has come in only his 10th event as a professional.

He had a modest 29th-place finish when he turned pro in early May at his home Italian Open, but his potential had been shown in the amateur ranks.

Manassero was the youngest winner of the amateur silver medal, finishing 13th in the 2009 British Open, and in April this year became the youngest to make the cut in the US

Masters where he finished 36th.

“When I played alongside Tom Watson in the (British) Open it was the best experience I’d ever had — until now,” said Manassero.

It was apt that the Italian achieved the record, aged 17 years 188 days, at the Mediterraneo course in Castellon, the club to which Castello Masters promoter Sergio Garcia belongs.

Garcia was another to shake the golfing world when he won two tour titles in 1999, finished second in the US PGA Championship and third on the European money-list when only 19.

But while Manassero basked in the limelight of a debut win worth nearly half a million dollars, 30-year-old Garcia, struggling badly with his game, had to sit out the weekend having missed the cut.