'I Literally Couldn’t Play Anymore' - Manassero On Dark Days Ahead Of DP World Tour Return

Matteo Manassero's story is not one you see too often in golf. We've seen plenty of young stars burn bright only to then burn out, but the Italian has managed to find his way back from the depths of golfing despair.

The rise was meteoric and the descent just as dramatic as Mannassero went from four-time DP World Tour winner at just 20 with the world at his feet to being unable to even pick up a club when "golf had become too heavy" for him.

He's now 30 and about to get back onto the DP World Tour for the first time since losing his card in 2018 thanks to a two-win season on the Challenge Tour setting him up to bag one of the 20 cards on offer in the Grand Final in Mallorca.

And as he attempts to win in Mallorca and finish as Challenge Tour No.1, Mannassero reflected on how he managed to drag himself back up from rock bottom.

"I reflect on the journey I have been on with pride," Manassero said in a Player Blog on the DP World Tour website. "I wouldn’t say I have done everything again from scratch because what I achieved as a young player is always with me, but I needed patience and to go through all the steps.

"The toughest period was when I stepped away from golf in 2019 for a few months. I literally couldn’t play anymore. Golf had become too heavy on me. That was a tough realisation.

"I had always played golf in a free and joyful way, but I knew I had to rebuild myself. Part of that was playing some events on the Alps Tour. At the time I felt that was where I needed to be to restructure my game."

It's been a memorable season in many ways for Manassero, who won in Copenhagen almost exactly 10 years to the day from his win at Wentworth, before capturing the Italian Challenge Open for his biggest success on home soil.

"Winning in Copenhagen was special because I had been through a really, really tough journey," he added. "It came on the tenth anniversary of my win at the BMW PGA Championship in 2013, and also brought me closer to my main goal, which was to come back to the DP World Tour.

"A couple of months later, I took the title at the Italian Challenge Open. I had never won a tournament of that level on home soil, and to win in front of home crowds meant a lot to me. 

"I always wanted to do that and somehow, I never felt that I could bring my A-game to tournaments at home. I had only played well at the Italian Open on the DP World Tour once and that was years ago. So being able to do that made me realise that I was finally mentally in the right spot."

Golf came almost too easy for a young Manassero, before the mental demons of the game took hold, from setting records at the time for the youngest Amateur Championship winner and youngest player to make the cut at The Masters, to winning the silver medal at The Open.

Turning pro just after turning 17, this precocious Italian teenager won twice before turning 18 to occupy both first and second place in the youngest players to win on the DP World Tour list.

The first teenager to win three times on the then European Tour, by the time he then became the youngest BMW PGA Championship winner he'd won four times aged just 20.

And now he has not only his game in shape but also his confidence and mentality, Manassero believe he may even enjoy his return to the DP World Tour more than he did first time around.

"Now, being 30 years old, I handle things in a different way to when I was a four-time winner on the DP World Tour at 20," he added.

"I understand and appreciate aspects of life in a more mature way. I'm a very different person to ten years ago. I see golf in a different way.

"The Matteo that was 18 years old is gone. While it may have appeared I was forever at ease on the golf course in those early years of success as a professional, that was not the case. I know what it feels being stressed or being afraid about something that could potentially happen on a golf course.

"While it’s still me, I need to find my best performance in a different way. I felt when I managed to make that switch in mindset it was big for me because then I was able to start improving, moving forward and not looking backwards.

"Making progress doesn't come from trying to recreate what I did ten years ago. So, I think I will enjoy next season in some ways more than I did when I was on the DP World Tour years ago."