Matteo Manassero

Manassero was born in Negrar, in the Province of Verona, and took up the game at the age of 3 1/2 when he hit balls on a driving range. After a short period at the Villafranca Golf Club, he joined the Gardagolf Country Club in Soiano del Lago and started training with Franco Maestroni.
In 2009, at the age of 16 and 2 months, he became the youngest and first Italian winner of the British Amateur Championship, defeating England's Sam Hutsby 4&3, in the final. The win qualified him for the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry the next month. Playing with Tom Watson and Sergio Garcia in the first two rounds of the Open, he made the cut and finished T-13th, becoming the youngest winner of the Silver Medal awarded to the leading amateur.
Manassero topped the World Amateur Golf Rankings at the end of 2009 and remained No. 1 for 18 weeks, until he was removed from the rankings upon turning professional.
On April 9, 2010, he beat Bobby Cole's record, to become the youngest player ever to make the cut at the Masters, at 16 years, 11 months, 22 days. He was nearly two years younger than Cole was when he made the cut at the 1967 Masters. Manassero was surpassed by Tianlang Guan, who became the youngest player to make the cut in Masters and PGA Tour history at 14 years, 5 months of age on April 12, 2013. Manassero finished T-36th in what was the best performance by a European amateur in 73 years. He announced that he would turn professional shortly after the Masters, about two weeks after his 17th birthday. He officially turned pro on May 3, 2010, then made his professional debut at the BMW Italian Open.
His first win came on October 24, 2010 at the Castello Masters Costa Azahar in Valencia, Spain, where he won by four strokes over Ignacio Garrido. The victory at 17 years, 188 days made him the youngest-ever winner on the European Tour, surpassing the record set by Danny Lee at the 2009 Johnnie Walker Classic. The victory also secured full European Tour playing privileges for the next two seasons. Manassero posted another strong result with a T-2nd at the 2010 UBS Hong Kong Open, one shot behind winner Ian Poulter. He won the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award in 2010.
Manassero secured his second European Tour win at the Maybank Malaysian Open on April 17, 2011 at the age of 17 years, 363 days, putting him first and second on the list of youngest European Tour winners. With the win, climbed to 33rd in the World Rankings becoming the second-youngest player among the top-50, just behind Ryo Ishikawa.
2012 Notes: Set yet another record when he won the Barclays Singapore Open, becoming the first teenager to win three European Tour events. Went up against Louis Oosthuizen in a playoff and won it with an eagle at the third extra hole. Finished year 13th in The Race to Dubai.
2013 Notes: At the age of 20 years, 37 days, won the BMW PGA Championship, making him the youngest winner of that championship. He defeated Simon Khan on the fourth extra playoff hole, and with the win, climbed to 28th in the Official World Rankings. (He was not the youngest into top-30. That honor goes to Sergio Garcia, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth). The next week, finished T-4th in the Nordea Masters. Went on to finish the year 11th in The Race to Dubai and dropped to 43rd in the World Rankings.
2014 Notes: Had three top-tens, T-10th Volvo Golf Champions, T-8th Valspar Championship and T-4th Aberdeen Asset Scottish Open. On the European Tour played in 24 events making 18 cuts, he finished 60th in the Race to Dubai.
2015 Notes: Played in 22 events only making the cut in six of them. His best finish was T-18th at the Volvo China Open, after finishing T-46th at the BMW PGA Championship he did not make a single cut, missing 13 straight around the world. Was 167th in the Race to Dubai as he only earned euro91,763.
2016 Notes: After missing 8 cuts in his first 12 starts, had a T-12th at the Nordea Masters his best finish since finishing T-4th at the 2014 Scottish Open. Top all of that with a T-3rd at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open it was his first top-3 since his 2013 BMW PGA Championship win. The good finish at Stuart Castle got the Italian one of the last berths in the Open Championship.