There is a photo at the home of Matteo Manassero’s parents that shows him on the practice putting green at Gardagolf Country Club in northern Italy, where he learned the game.
He’s 4 years old, dressed smartly like a golfer in all red, and perhaps that’s why the Italian Ryder Cup hero Costantino Rocca, shortly after finishing a distant fifth to Tiger Woods at the 1997 Masters, picked Manassero out of a crowd and challenged the young golfer to a five-hole putting contest on the eve of the Italian Open.
In 2003, when the tournament returned to Gardagolf, Manassero was there.