Manassero is the youngest person ever to win a European Tour event, but that came last year at the Castello Masters when he was just 17 years and 188 days old. This weekend’s win means he is first and second on the list of youngest winners – he turns 18 today.
Contrast this with the youngest winner on the PGA Tour. Phil Mickelson holds that record with his win at the 1991 Northern Telecom Open – he was 20 years, 6 months and 25 days old. At that time he was still an amateur and played most of his golf at collegiate level with Arizona State University.
During Mickelson’s time at Arizona State he won three NCAA Individual Championships and also the US Amateur Championship.
Tiger Woods took a similar path to Mickelson into the professional ranks. He attended Stanford University and during his time there he won two U.S. Amateur Championships (he had already won one while at High School), the NCAA Individual Championship and also competed in his first US Masters and British Open as an amateur.
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Contrast that with Rory McIlroy. He took the Manassero route, or to be more accurate, Matteo Manassero is taking the McIlroy route.
Both McIlroy and Manassero have turned professional before either were even at the age to attend college or university. It’s easy to see why both players would choose to skip the collegiate stage and move straight into the money-making ranks. Who would postpone the chance to earn millions?
Well, Tiger and Phil did. Both players would easily have been good enough to turn professional straight out of High School and win tournaments, but they chose not to. They chose to build up their experience, mature as both people and golfers, and join the tour with a little more experience under their belts having played in tour events as amateurs.
Let’s take McIlroy at the US Masters. At his age, if he’d taken the collegiate route, he’d still be playing at that level at his age. He would be a relatively unknown quantity and his performance at the US Masters would have been a revelation rather than a disappointment.
Imagine the difference this would make to his confidence and the way he thinks about his game and his career.
Instead of being the world number seven who lost a major on Sunday, he’d be the college golfer who led the Masters for three days, whose relative inexperience got the better of him, but who will certainly win Majors in the future.
In some ways, he is still all of those things, but as a professional, the flaws which led to his final-round demise have come under far more scrutiny. It is not unreasonable that the game of a professional should be analysed and commented upon more than that of an amateur of the same age.
To date, Matteo Manassero has avoided such a spotlight – he is still a relative unknown compared to McIlroy and he is yet to bring his game to Major Championship level. That is not to say, though, that in time the same will not happen, and let’s remember that he has only just turned 18.
People will be quick to point out that a collegiate sports structure like in America simply does not exist in Europe. That is absolutely true, but it didn’t stop the likes of Graeme McDowell, Paul Casey or Luke Donald who opted to cross the pond to go through the collegiate system.
You could also argue that it’s not necessarily an easy decision to leave home and move to college in America, and that’s also completely valid – different strokes, different folks. But joining the tour essentially means spending a significant amount of time away from home anyway, so that would seem to dilute that particular argument.
The nub of this debate is not about the merits of the collegiate system over turning professional as soon as you’re good enough, although that in itself is interesting. What’s really at stake here is how a young golfer managers his or her career in order to maximise their talent and potential.
Tiger and Phil have ultimately achieved great success. McIlroy and Manassero have both been successful to date, but golfers have long careers and one has to wonder whether the pressure McIlroy and Manassero will be under at such a young age will be to their detriment or their advantage in both the long and short term.
In the swing: Manassero's meteoric rise a particularly European phenomenon
MATTEO MANASSERO’S SECOND European Tour victory this weekend brings to light a significant difference between the European and PGA Tours.
Manassero is the youngest person ever to win a European Tour event, but that came last year at the Castello Masters when he was just 17 years and 188 days old. This weekend’s win means he is first and second on the list of youngest winners – he turns 18 today.
Contrast this with the youngest winner on the PGA Tour. Phil Mickelson holds that record with his win at the 1991 Northern Telecom Open – he was 20 years, 6 months and 25 days old. At that time he was still an amateur and played most of his golf at collegiate level with Arizona State University.
During Mickelson’s time at Arizona State he won three NCAA Individual Championships and also the US Amateur Championship.
Tiger Woods took a similar path to Mickelson into the professional ranks. He attended Stanford University and during his time there he won two U.S. Amateur Championships (he had already won one while at High School), the NCAA Individual Championship and also competed in his first US Masters and British Open as an amateur.
Contrast that with Rory McIlroy. He took the Manassero route, or to be more accurate, Matteo Manassero is taking the McIlroy route.
Both McIlroy and Manassero have turned professional before either were even at the age to attend college or university. It’s easy to see why both players would choose to skip the collegiate stage and move straight into the money-making ranks. Who would postpone the chance to earn millions?
Well, Tiger and Phil did. Both players would easily have been good enough to turn professional straight out of High School and win tournaments, but they chose not to. They chose to build up their experience, mature as both people and golfers, and join the tour with a little more experience under their belts having played in tour events as amateurs.
Let’s take McIlroy at the US Masters. At his age, if he’d taken the collegiate route, he’d still be playing at that level at his age. He would be a relatively unknown quantity and his performance at the US Masters would have been a revelation rather than a disappointment.
Imagine the difference this would make to his confidence and the way he thinks about his game and his career.
In some ways, he is still all of those things, but as a professional, the flaws which led to his final-round demise have come under far more scrutiny. It is not unreasonable that the game of a professional should be analysed and commented upon more than that of an amateur of the same age.
To date, Matteo Manassero has avoided such a spotlight – he is still a relative unknown compared to McIlroy and he is yet to bring his game to Major Championship level. That is not to say, though, that in time the same will not happen, and let’s remember that he has only just turned 18.
People will be quick to point out that a collegiate sports structure like in America simply does not exist in Europe. That is absolutely true, but it didn’t stop the likes of Graeme McDowell, Paul Casey or Luke Donald who opted to cross the pond to go through the collegiate system.
You could also argue that it’s not necessarily an easy decision to leave home and move to college in America, and that’s also completely valid – different strokes, different folks. But joining the tour essentially means spending a significant amount of time away from home anyway, so that would seem to dilute that particular argument.
The nub of this debate is not about the merits of the collegiate system over turning professional as soon as you’re good enough, although that in itself is interesting. What’s really at stake here is how a young golfer managers his or her career in order to maximise their talent and potential.
Tiger and Phil have ultimately achieved great success. McIlroy and Manassero have both been successful to date, but golfers have long careers and one has to wonder whether the pressure McIlroy and Manassero will be under at such a young age will be to their detriment or their advantage in both the long and short term.
Read more of Neil Cullen’s columns for TheScore.ie here >
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