There are just a few hours left until the US Open kicks off and the most heard words in Pinehurst are slaughter, carnage and suffering. Whether it’s the greens, the drama of the hair in favour, the escapes, the buns, oh, the buns… However, there is one player who laughs at all this. He is the smile of this US Open. The best of all. It’s Matteo Manassero. “We’re all going to suffer, that’s clear, but I’ve been through so much in the last few years that I can’t help but appreciate what it means to be here, in this tournament and on this stage,” he tells Ten Golf shortly after finishing his last nine practice holes. “The homework is done, now it’s time to enjoy,” he says.
Between 2009 (when he debuted as a youngster playing that Open alongside Tom Watson and Sergio García at Turnberry) and 2016, the Veronese golfer played 17 Majors. From 2016 to today he has only played one more, the Open Championship of 2019, for which he qualified through the preliminaries. This US Open at Pinehurst will be the second. These numbers are a good way to see how Manassero’s life has changed. When the Italian looks back, he does so not with melancholy, pain or resentment, but with all the good he has learned in bad times.
“Time is what it is, five years since my last Major, it doesn’t seem too long or too short to me, but it’s true that a lot has happened. In my body it doesn’t seem like so many years, but I’ve done a lot of different things to be here. There have been many bad things and many good things that I can take into the future to be well and solid. They have been very important years. to understand how much you have to enjoy this because it’s very difficult to be here. You have to appreciate what it means to be here,” he says, of course, smiling.
Matteo is aware that his presence in this US Open, and his successes in general, make many people happy. He knows it and enjoys it, it doesn’t weigh him down. “I’m aware that in Italy and Spain many people have congratulated me. I understand it and it’s very nice. I was the first to be very happy to be here, I appreciate it and I take it well, it’s not an extra responsibility to have to do well, it’s more how good it is that people keep looking at me. The successful player enjoys this, it’s a pleasure,” he says calmly.
His game is in a great moment. Don’t change anything, his coach, the Dane Soren Hansen repeats as he scrutinises every shot of his pupil. In his last six tournaments played he has harvested a victory, a fifth place and four top 25s. The game is there. “Everything is fine, everything is really fine. Physically and game, everything is in order. There’s no need to look for things. There will be good shots and bad shots, the important thing is to have the attitude. The mentality has to be very fine on a course like this. It’s the only thing we have under our control,” he points out.
It could be said that James Ridyard, English coach, pulled Matteo out of the hole and accompanied him in his first victory in the Alps, laid the first shovels of asphalt on the way back, but who put him in a car to go faster, who took him to the next level, was Hansen. The story is nice. The Dane, a formal and rightful person where there are, was not sure at the beginning of 2023 when he was offered the possibility of working with Manassero. He had nothing against the Italian, on the contrary, but he was already working with many players and was not convinced that he could give him the attention he required at that time. “Matteo is at a very important moment in his career and should not make a mistake in this decision,” he argued.
However, Manassero made it easy. He committed to travel to Denmark whenever necessary to see Soren, even to work in indoor, to train by video and finally their paths joined. Total success. He won two Challenge Tour tournaments in 2023, ascended to the DP World Tour and has already won again in the first division. Now, US Open. Manassero has left the National and has got on the motorway.
The champion of five tournaments on the DP World Tour has clear the keys to this week. “At another time we would have tried to do everything perfect, but it’s not the most important thing, especially with the course we have ahead. Mentally and speaking well you can have a good time and be yourself on the course. That’s the goal,” he explains.
In case you still have any doubt that Manassero is the best smile of this US Open, don’t miss what he thinks of Pinehurst. He has never been here before. “It’s a course that every golfer should play at least once in their life, whatever their handicap. Everyone should come here, it’s beautiful. I’ve never played on a course of this style and the place, with ten courses, the Village… it’s unique. I’ve played other US Opens but this one is unique. I’m missing Pebble Beach, but I’ve been to Oakmont and this is my favourite. It’s beautiful and difficult to an extreme level and that makes it very special”.
And you know what? He’s still only 31 years old… As if not to laugh out loud.
