Matthew Manassero? "He's ready to win a Major." He doesn't need to look into Alberto Binaghi's crystal ball to express this prophecy about the young Italian golf champion. Binaghi, Milanese, 49 years old, tour professional for more than three decades, has been training Matteo since he was 16 years old. And the results so far have been amazing.
The career of this almost beardless boy from Verona is extraordinary: he won three tournaments on the European Tour while he was still a teenager and today, at the age of twenty, he is number 50 in the world. A talent that emerged among a handful of golfers, given that this sport is not very popular in Italy and has only one hundred thousand followers. Just like Tiger Woods or Rory McIlory, baby golfers, Matteo picks up his first club when he's not even 3 years old, and always like the two world phenomena he manages to forge ahead as a kid. For now he hasn't managed to win on the American circuit, but he has all the time in front of him and he will try with determination in the next few months. At least that's what his coach promises.
FIRSTonline – Binaghi the course of the Augusta National, home of the Masters, first Major of the year, adapts to Matteo's characteristics, yet “Manasso” didn't pass the cut what happened?
Binaghi – Unfortunately Matteo played badly on the irons and around the greens, where he is stronger. It can happen. However we are already looking ahead. Golfers can't be XNUMX percent fit every week. Matteo has extraordinary recovery skills and a great character, as he also demonstrated in recent days in Spain, playing badly on the first day but recovering well and managing to pass the cut.
FIRSTonline – This week the European tour is in Korea, where the Italians Edoardo Molinari, Lorenzo Gagli, Alessandro Tadini and Matteo Del Podio play. Manassero isn't here, do you have other plans?
Binaghi – Yes, this weekend he will rest and then leave again for the States, where he intends to play a TPC
FIRSTonline – Does the fact that he didn't make it through the cut in Augusta and that he struggled a bit last week worry you?
Binaghi – Absolutely not. I prefer him to miss some cuts, but to win at least one tournament. Matteo is also ready to win a Major or a WGC, it could even happen this year. He's lost weight, he's stretched out, but above all he has a characteristic that only belongs to great players: he's able to perform more when he's under pressure.
FIRSTonline – The next appointment of the Grand Slam is the Open Championship, will Matteo be there?
Binaghi – Certainly yes and we are working for this great tournament. Matteo has already qualified also for the US Open. As far as the PGA is concerned, he will have to remain within the top 50 players in world rankings and I am convinced that he will make it. Matteo has such characteristics that he could comfortably enter the top 20, currently he is one of the best irons players in the world and we are talking about number one.
FIRSTonline – What characteristics must the coach of such a young golf champion have?
Binaghi – Must respect the physical characteristics, swing and age of the player. There is no point in chasing models. Matteo is different from McIlory and he shouldn't try to imitate him. He must become strong Manassero and not strong Rory or strong Tiger. He has his own winning identity and he must value that. In my opinion we need to optimize the characteristics of an athlete and not bend them to abstract ideals.
FIRSTonline- Speaking of great champions: what is your opinion of Tiger Woods' behavior on the 15th hole in Augusta? Was he supposed to be disqualified?
Binaghi – Woods has shown that he doesn't know the rules. Twice this year he has taken penalty strokes for infractions. The first time in Abu Dhabi, where he dropped a sunken ball saying he didn't know it was sand. What, you play in the desert and you think your ball is buried in the ground?
Second time in Augsburg. At the Masters there was a big mess, also made by the Committee. Anyone watching TV had noticed that Tiger had dropped the ball in a different spot, a few paces back from his first shot. The Committee, alerted by a viewer, did not consider the error voluntary or relevant and did not tell him anything before he delivered the score. Only after Tiger's statements to the media, when Woods himself said he had dropped the ball two yards further back in order not to get the rod again, did he have to intervene. At that point, however, he found himself at a crossroads, he could give two shots or disqualify the champion. Since there was a co-responsibility of the Committee and given Tiger's good faith, he chose the two penalty strokes.
FIRSTonline – In your opinion Woods was really wrong or knew he was breaking the rules?
Binaghi - He was definitely in good faith, he got confused. He went to see where his ball had landed and in the chaos of the moment he superimposed two rules: the one that allows you to go back as far as you want, keeping the point where the ball landed in the obstacle, between the new play point and the flag, and the one that authorizes the golfer to shoot from the same spot where he played the first shot. He himself openly told reporters that he went backwards from the original point. Tiger has no need to "steal" a few steps, and even the statement he made, ie 'so I wouldn't take the auction again', is a joke. For me he said it to keep the opponents under pressure, to show them that he still has the situation under control. A vanity that cost him dearly. In fact he hit a second shot just a few paces from the flag, but even if he had placed the ball in the exact spot from which he had hit the first one, he would hardly have hit the stick again. It's not something that happens every minute.
FIRSTonline – Some commentators, such as Nick Faldo, have said that Tiger had to retire, based on the spirit of golf, a sport that assumes a gentleman's match, in which everyone is their own referee. There are different opinions on this point. Given that the law now offers the Race Committee an alternative to disqualification, ie a two-stroke penalty, Woods concluded his race, finishing fourth. Did he do well?
Binaghi – Yes. Apart from the unwitting violation of the rule, it must be admitted that Tiger was very unlucky in that hole, he brought home an 8. That's enough.
