Pursuit and Payoff

It was a busy weekend across the world of golf on various high-level tours, but the two stories that stuck with me most happened on lower tours. The first was Matteo Manassero winning on the Challenge Tour at the Copenhagen Challenge in Denmark.

There is something powerful and graceful in Manassero’s continued effort to play golf at the highest level. He’s sort of on a reverse Michael Block timeline. He’s now 30, but he popped onto the world stage in his teens as an Italian phenom, making the cut and winning low amateur honors at the 2010 Masters as a 16 year-old, then the youngest-ever competitor in that tournament. He then won four times on the European Tour fairly quickly. But the last of those four wins came in 2013. If you want to mix in a 2020 win on the Alps Tour, that’s fine. But he spoke more about the decade since his last win in a post-round presser that was quite moving.

“A lot of down moments definitely came in those 10 years, but I’m still here, and I’m holding this trophy,” Manassero said. “In the past, I didn’t enjoy enough the good times but I definitely will this time.”

"My wife never caddies for me but this week she was here, so it’s been the perfect week and as good as any other I’ve ever had." @ManasseroMatteo 💬 | #CopenhagenChallenge pic.twitter.com/aFZgQjB9qV

— Challenge Tour (@Challenge_Tour) May 28, 2023

He called this win, which began with a rough opening 75, the “perfect week” and “as good as any other I’ve ever had.” This is someone who had a lot come to him very early on, ranking as high as 25th in the world, regularly playing in WGCs and majors, and residing in the highest level of European golf.

Manassero started the week ranked 575th in the world but, as he said, “still here” and grinding away on a lower tour. “Golf is strange, and hard to understand at times, and probably we shouldn’t really try to understand it,” he said. Maybe words to live by however hard they may be to heed.

The second result that really stuck with me was Rico Hoey’s win on the Korn Ferry Tour in Knoxville. The former amateur sensation has wandered in his own mini-tour wilderness, but is seemingly headed for a PGA Tour card now that he’s second on the KFT points list. You only need to watch the videos of his reaction to winning to understand why this was a special moment from the weekend in golf.

The moment @RicoHoey found out he won 🥹

A scene he will never forget. pic.twitter.com/s0ni0uFqcc

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) May 28, 2023