Tag: Matteo Manassero

Matteo Manassero leads the 2024 BMW PGA Championship, Rory McIlroy and Billy Horschel tied for second

All three players are past BMW PGA Championship winners.

For years, Matteo Manassero lost his game in a quest for more distance, but he’s back to his old self this week at the BMW PGA Championship. The 2013 champion at the Wentworth Club fired a 9-under 63 on Saturday to build a three-shot lead over Rory McIlroy (2014 BMW PGA winner) and Billy Horschel (2021 BMW PGA winner).

Manassero played his first four holes in 3 under thanks to an eagle on the par-5 fourth. He finished the front nine with five straight pars to make the turn with a 3-under 32.

On the back, the Italian caught fire.

He made birdies on Nos. 11, 12 and 14 before three straight to close a 6-under 31.

The 101st-ranked golfer in the world will have to keep the petal down on Sunday as two of the world’s best hope to chase him down.

BMW PGA: Players, fans battle heavy rain on Saturday | Best photos from star-studded pro-am

Let’s start with McIlroy, who last week lost in devastating fashion at Royal County Down in his home country of Northern Ireland.

McIlroy, like Manassero, eagled the fourth and added a birdie on the par-4 seventh before making the turn. On the back, the world No. 3 made birdie on Nos. 10, 12 and 17 before closing with a beautiful par on the par-5 18th — his second from the fairway found the penalty area short of the green but was able to get up and down thanks to a 10-foot par putt.

The No. 1 player in the Race to Dubai Rankings will begin Sunday’s final round three shots off the pace after a 6-under 66.

Horschel played his first seven holes even par on Day 3, then his putter got hot. The Florida Gator made seven birdies in a row from Nos. 8-14, pouring in 130 feet of putts.

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He traded a bogey on 15 for another birdie on 18 for a third-round 7-under 65. Horschel’s lone international win came at this event three years ago.

Matthew Baldwin is alone in fourth at 14 under, four back, while Antoine Rozner and Thirston Lawrence are tied for fifth at 13 under, six back.

Here’s a look at the betting odds heading into the final round.

2024 BMW PGA Championship final-round odds

Position Player Score Odds to win
1st Matteo Manassero 18 under (+110)
T-2 Rory McIlroy 15 under (+230)
T-2 Billy Horschel 15 under (+400)
4th Matthew Baldwin 14 under (+3000)
T-5 Antoine Rozner 13 under (+4000)
T-5 Thriston Lawrence 13 under (+2200)
7th Aaron Rai 12 under (+3500)
8th Harry Hall 11 under (+15000)
T-9 Yannik Paul 10 under (+50000)
T-9 Robert MacIntyre 10 under (+20000)
T-9 Marcus Armitage 10 under (+100000)

Final-round coverage will be available from 7 a.m.-12:30 p.m. ET on Golf Channel.

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Matteo Manassero wins DP World Tour title for the first time in 11 years

“It is the best day of my life on the golf course.”

Just two days after shooting a career-best 61, Matteo Manassero celebrated what he tabbed “the best day of my life on the golf course.”

The 30-year-old Italian shot a final-round 66 at Glendower Golf Club on Sunday to win the Jonsson Workwear Open in Johannesburg, South Africa. His three-shot win over a trio of players marked Manassero’s first victory on the DP World Tour in 11 years.

“It has been a crazy journey, but in the last few years I knew I was getting back on track,” Manassero said. “Golf is such a difficult game. I am just so happy to be here now. I played well today, but the guys behind were playing some incredible golf and every time I looked at the leaderboard it was a new name with more birdies.”

Born near Verona, Manassero started playing golf at age three with a set of plastic clubs. At 16, he became the youngest winner of the British Amateur Championship in 2009 before taking the silver medal for low amateur in the 2009 British Open Championship. Manassero still holds the record as the youngest-ever winner on the DP World Tour at 17 years, 188 days in 2010 (Castello Masters Costa Azahar in Spain), but he had recorded only seven top-10 finishes since winning the 2013 BMW PGA Championship, the tour’s flagship event and his fourth career title.

Manassero climbed as high as 25th in the Official World Golf Ranking before chasing distance gains and losing control of his swing. As the frustration mounted, he even quit playing for a brief stretch five years ago, and entered the week ranked No. 381. Manassero won twice on the Challenge Tour last season to regain his DP Tour privileges for the first time in five years.

Manassero shot 26-under par to edge Shaun Norris (68), Thriston Lawrence (63) and Jordan Smith (68), who shared second.

After a long and winding road, the can’t-miss kid who missed has found his way back to the winner’s circle.

Former can’t-miss-kid Matteo Manassero tastes victory on Challenge Tour 10 years after his biggest win

“Golf is strange and hard to understand at times, and probably we shouldn’t try too hard to understand it.”

What a long strange trip it has been for Matteo Manassero to return to the winner’s circle.

On the weekend of the 10-year anniversary of his BMW PGA Championship victory, the 30-year-old Italian claimed his maiden European Challenge Tour title at the Copenhagen Challenge.

Manassero, a four-time DP World Tour winner and the youngest player to win three times on the European circuit, shot a bogey-free final-round 66, which was good enough for a one-shot victory at 12 under par and his first title since winning the 2020 Toscana Open on the Alps Tour.

Born near Verona, he started playing golf at age three with a set of plastic clubs. At 16, he became the youngest winner of the British Amateur Championship in 2009 before taking the silver medal for low amateur in the 2009 British Open Championship. Manassero climbed as high as 25th in the Official World Golf Ranking and seemed destined for greater things. But the short-hitting Italian chased distance gains and lost control of his swing and his game. He entered the week No. 575 in the world.

Manassero started the day six shots behind overnight leader Matias Honkala, but made a three-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to secure his first DP World Tour-sanctioned victory since his heroics at Wentworth in 2013.

“There are a lot of emotions,” he said. “It has been 10 years now since I won on Tour so I guess May is a good time of the year for me.

“My wife never caddies for me but this week she was here, so it’s been the perfect week and as good as any other I’ve ever had.”

Manassero started strongly in the final round with back-to-back birdies from the second hole before tacking on another at the eighth. With Honkala dropping back and South African teenager Casey Jarvis also picking up shots, Manassero was in a three-way share of the lead. However, he rose to the top with birdies at the 14th and 15th before the clincher at 18 to be crowned champion at Royal Golf Club by one stroke ahead of Jarvis. Manassero enjoyed the moment after being lost in golf’s wilderness for a decade, a can’t-miss-kid who has been one of the biggest disappointments in the professional game.

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“I’ve had a lot of down periods during those ten years but I’m still here and now I’m holding the trophy, which means I’ve done a lot of good things as well in that period of time,” he said. “In the past maybe I didn’t enjoy enough of the good times, but I definitely will now.

“I came into this week with doubts about my game and I wasn’t feeling great. This golf course isn’t a course that you can afford not to be feeling great but sometimes you grind, and it doesn’t happen and sometimes all of a sudden it clicks.

“Golf is strange and hard to understand at times, and probably we shouldn’t try too hard to understand it.”

Manassero improved to fifth on the Road to Mallorca Rankings up from 40th position, while Jarvis moves up to second from 15th place.

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Harold Varner III, Adri Arnaus lead Saudi International after 36 holes; 14-year-old makes cut

A 14-year-old phenom from Thailand made the cut at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club.

American Harold Varner III and Spain’s Adri Arnaus each posted 66 to share the 36-hole lead at the Saudi International in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia. The co-leaders also both shot opening-round 64s at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club as the duo sit at 10-under 130.

“It wasn’t blowing as hard this morning, so just trying to hang in there and just give myself a chance,” said Varner in a statement released by the tournament. “I think you’ve got to drive it really well here. It’s forgiving off the tee, but when blowing, the lines get a little bit tighter, and you’ve just got to keep hitting good shots.”

Varner’s lone professional victory came in the 2016 Australian PGA Championship. Arnaus has one career win too, the 2018 Al Khaimah Challenge Tour Grand Final in the United Arab Emirates.

Next on the leaderboard are PGA Tour regulars Cameron Smith and Matt Wolff at 8 under. Tommy Fleetwood is solo fifth after two days at 7 under. First-round leader Matteo Manassero, who had a 62 on Thursday, posted a 73 on Friday.

Other notables: Bubba Watson, T-6 (6 under); Patrick Reed and Xander Schauffele, T-9 (5 under); defending champion Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, T-14 (4 under).

Ratchanon Chantananuwat, 14, of Thailand made the cut. He shot a 75 Friday, one day after posting a 66 and made the weekend by a shot.

Graeme McDowell missed the cut after shooting a pair of 73s. Jason Dufner will miss the weekend as well after posting scores of 72 and 78.

Bryson DeChambeau, who opened with a 73 on Thursday, withdrew prior to the second round, citing injuries to both his left hand and left hip.

The Saudi International is the Asian Tour’s season-opening event.

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Matteo Manassero shoots 62, leads Saudi International after first round

Defending champion Dustin Johnson shot a 5-under 65 and is three back of the lead.

Matteo Manassero shot an 8-under 62 on Thursday in the opening round of the PIF Saudi International to take the lead in King Abdullah Economic City.

Manassero had eight birdies at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club and leads by two shots.

“It was one of those days in which everything was going my way. I was playing really solid, giving myself a lot of birdie chances, a lot of really short ones,” said Manassero in a statement released by the tournament.

Sam Horsfield, Adri Arnaus, Harold Varner III, Ryosuke Kinoshita and Bubba Watson are all tied at 6 under.

Dustin Johnson, the defending champion, shot a 5-under 65, as did Matthew Wolff and 19-year old Joohyung Kim from Korea.

“It was awesome (playing with Johnson),” Kim said in a statement. “I hope the TV got my smiles because I was having the time of my life.”

Other notables: Patrick Reed (4 under), Xander Schauffele (3 under), and Bryson DeChambeau (3 over).

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