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BMW INTERNATIONAL OPENJune 19, 2013Matteo ManasseroEICHENRIED, GERMANY PAUL SYMES: Many thanks for joining us. Maybe think back to Merion last week, certainly weren't doesn't knock your confidence too much. MATTEO MANASSERO: No, it doesn't. Obviously I wanted to do much better and I thought the course, it suit me well, so I could have played well. But I guess it was my weak part of the game let me down a little bit, which is the driver. I didn't drive well enough. Actually I didn't drive well at all. Merion is just very, very tough if you don't drive the ball well. And Merion is; but in any U.S. Open. It was just that problem really. I didn't struggle with anything else. It was just the driver that put me off the fairway too many times, and then it was hard to recover. I came pretty close to make the cut anyway. Only needed a good drive on the last, and it was probably done, but that's the way it is and we move on. As I said, my confidence is still up. PAUL SYMES: Been working on your driving on the range. MATTEO MANASSERO: Yeah, I have. I got here yesterday morning and I've got some work in the afternoon. I changed shafts, so that feels a little better, we'll see. Obviously this course, it's a bit of a break this week. We can relax a little more off the tee fortunately, and so the driver is definitely going to look better this week. PAUL SYMES: You won at Wentworth, BMW, a great achievement. MATTEO MANASSERO: Yeah, it was a great week. I've said this many times, and you know, I was really proud of winning the Flagship Event. It was just a magnificent week. I played good golf and managed in the end to stay focused and pull it off in the end. PAUL SYMES: And you're back to second in The Race to Dubai after Justin's win last week; is that a goal this year to top the rankings? MATTEO MANASSERO: I think Top‑10 would be a great achievement. I was 13th last year, so I guess a step forward would be Top‑10. I'm in good position to do it but we're only in June, so there's so many tournaments and we know that this year, the end of the year, there's so many great tournaments. So you know, you have to keep your form up. You've got to keep playing well. But I guess this stretch this summer is going to be really important for me; after the PGA, we have got many events that count for The Race to Dubai and you've got to play well in those. There's no doubt I'm going down instead of going up. But it's so nice to be close to the top in The Race to Dubai. That's where I play and where I want to do well. Q. Last night, you've seen a lot of Munich? MATTEO MANASSERO: Yes, I like it. As I said last night, you heard, this is my third time. I've been three times in Munich since I turned pro and I came here three times. Really happy to be here, and as I said it's a really comfortable place for us, for all the players, we have all the comfort. I personally enjoy the city. For some things, it looks like Italy a little bit, and so it's pretty close to it, as well. It feels like, coming from the U.S., I'm getting closer to home, so it's nice. Q. One more technical, what's up with your‑‑ inaudible. MATTEO MANASSERO: One feels a little better‑‑ softer. Q. Your success and performance here over the years, it seems so natural; does it surprise you, and where do you see yourself in your development right now? MATTEO MANASSERO: I know what I've got to develop, what I've got to work on, and what I want to see improving. I know that. But I don't know what goals I'm going to achieve in this very close future. The only thing I know is that everything is natural because I don't want too much pressure‑‑ I don't want to put too much pressure on myself; so I don't set too many goals, so that's probably why it's natural. But I'm working quite a lot on many things, and I'm doing the right job, probably that's why I'm playing well. I can't really say where I see myself at in five months, I don't know. I'm just going to play, and what I'm playing for is to stay as close as possible to the top of Race to Dubai and doing very nicely now. Q. What do you do to stay on the ground? Yesterday Martin Kaymer held a remarkable conference and talked about pressure and being kind of a golf ambassador in Germany. For sure there is a little bit of pressure from Italy, as well. MATTEO MANASSERO: Yeah, things are similar. I mean, it's not a huge sport in both Germany and Italy, golf. So I guess if you are doing well, you are put under quite a lot of pressure. Speaking for myself, I don't think pressure from outside is too negative. I think the one that the pressure that comes from yourself is the most negative one. When you let yourself down because you set too high goals, that's when you know your confidence goes down so much. I personally know what I have to work on and know what I can do each week. But I don't go farther than that. I don't want to think too far and I don't want to set too difficult goals to achieve. And then probably you know, still the pressure from outside is pressure, but it's not as much as the one we put to ourselves. I think Martin thinks it the same way. But it's hard when you're not playing as good as you want; and good as Martin can play, it's hard to stay positive. But you know, I personally know how strong mentally Martin is, so he's going to get it back very soon. Q. When you talk about pressure, how much did you enjoy the experience of playing Merion last week and how comfortable are you playing Majors? MATTEO MANASSERO: I feel comfortable but still, the courses like the U.S. Open, I think you've got to think ahead much more than what I did. I didn't have that much pressure. I just had the normal, usual pressure that I have. That was not something that didn't make me play well. But, I think if you can get in the U.S. Open, especially in the U.S. Open week, thinking of Sunday afternoon and what the scores are going to be, that makes you get in the week with another attitude. You know, I was getting in the week trying to bring my AGame on the course Thursday morning, and I did. I started well, and then, you know, as soon as I started making some bogeys and going over par, I was really trying to get them back. But, you know, after a double‑bogey and two bogeys in a row, I was only 3‑over. 3‑over was second in the end. So if you think it like that, it almost looks like a wasted opportunity, but it's the way you've got to think into the U.S. Open. You're going to make a lot of bogeys and you've got to try to avoid them and don't make doubles. So I guess I still have‑‑ this week I think is the U.S. Open that made me learn the most out of the three I played. That's the way I think about this. Q. The lead‑up to Muirfield, how important is it for you to sort of be playing well going to Muirfield and what will your schedule be like and have you played Muirfield before? MATTEO MANASSERO: I've never played Muirfield. But I heard it's a pure links course, so I think it's going to be a lot of fun, and one of the best Open venues. I'm looking forward. My form is good. After I go, after I hit my first shot, then it's good, but tee shots I'm working on. Has not been really good at Wentworth; it's actually been bad for two days, and then I man managed to get a little bit of feeling in the weekend and so then I drove the ball better. Has not been good in Sweden, and been really bad at the U.S. Open. So I need to drive the ball better, especially on a course like Muirfield, I think. So the only thing I'm concerned about, and really the only thing I'm focusing on, because the rest has been good. I don't think I've lost many shots. Actually, probably none at the U.S. Open with the irons. So that's a good thing, and chipping and putting has been solid. That's what it is. I think that the driver, if it's a little better, I think it's going to be fine. And, yes‑‑ inaudible ‑‑ will be this week‑‑ Scottish Open, I decided that because I want to play a tournament before The Open. I don't want to think much about it. It's going to be hard to prepare for it in Italy, so I would rather play a tournament. Q. Yesterday, the English Garden, usually it's a spot where people play soccer or badminton or there are crazy people, naked people shopping in the ice river; what's a crazy thing for you? MATTEO MANASSERO: Not crazy, but it was crazy how many people there were watching us. That was really nice. But I thought it was cool, not crazy. Obviously you don't think anybody playing golf in the English Garden, but I've never seen the English Garden before, so it was nice to get a ride around it. I thought it was fun, somebody different that we don't do it any time, really. We wouldn't have any time to go to the English Garden if we wouldn't do for playing a few holes. It was fun. It was really fun. Q. I just want to verify, sorry, some information I found on the Internet. I read that you had some eating problems when you were two years old or three years old, and your mother showed you some golf tournaments on the TV; is that correct? MATTEO MANASSERO: No, I never had eating problems (laughing). It's true that I prefer to drink my milk as soon as I was awake, and I would rather drink my meals in front of golf. But I still drank milk. Q. You were watching golf‑‑ MATTEO MANASSERO: Since I was born, that was earlier than three years. That was one, two, something like that. My dad used to watch golf, and so I was watching it with him and I kept on watching it on my own all the time. Q. But do you really feel a deep, strong relationship between you and golf somehow? MATTEO MANASSERO: Probably it helped but it's always been in my subconscious when I was that young, and now it became my job. So it's still‑‑ I enjoy it so much that we've got a special relationship, but everybody here that is playing this week has got a special relation with golf, I'm sure, or they wouldn't play. Q. Just a few things about your background. What are your parents doing? Did they have money to support you all the time or was it the Italian Federation? MATTEO MANASSERO: I think they supported me all the time for sure, normal family, normal kind of family. And they supported me with their money since I got in the national game and I was 13 years old. From then, the Federation always helped me until I turned professional, and yeah, but the national team from 13 to 17 when I turned professional. Yeah, the Federation supported me a lot, made me travel so much, which was nice. But in the beginning to show yourself to the national team, you have to travel by yourself and my mom used to bring me all over the place; my dad was working. So that was it. Like anybody pretty much. Q. You promote Abu Dhabi‑‑ inaudible‑‑ how do you rate it? MATTEO MANASSERO: It's a very good course. It's a very good course, especially when we play that tournament, it's really in amazing condition. So I think it's a great course. But when I go and practice, usually it's Saadiyat when I go there, the one by the sea, and that's another really, really good course. We are probably going to see the Championship there one day. But three very high‑standard golf courses, that one, the national and Yas, they are all very good, depends on your taste. PAUL SYMES:  Thank you very much and have a good week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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