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PORTUGAL MASTERSOctober 9, 2013Matteo ManasseroALGARVE, PORTUGAL SARAH GWYNN: Thank you very much for joining us today. Welcome back to the Portugal Masters. You must love coming back to this place, it's pretty cool, isn't it. MATTEO MANASSERO: Yeah, I think I came every year since I was pro. It's a beautiful event really, and you know, obviously we play under great, great conditions every single time. So, you know, building your schedule, building my schedule, I was just thinking, you know, why should I miss this. It's always in my schedule in the end. It's a very comfortable place. It's perfect weather, and it's a very nice course and usually gets a great field. It's one of the best tournaments we play all year really on The European Tour schedule, so I'm glad to be back this year again. Although I obviously played a lot of events this year, it's been a really busy year. But this is a relaxing week in many ways. SARAH GWYNN: You must be coming here feeling great after a fantastic win for Continental Europe last week. MATTEO MANASSERO: Yeah, finally we got it back. We improved a record that we definitely needed to improve. It was a great week. I think it's a wonderful event and I hope they will keep it going, because, you know, every 20 players, each player says it's a beautiful week. We all have a lot of fun, and even the crowd had a lot of fun. Everybody that was there could feel definitely the atmosphere is of a really nice event. You know, it's competitive, but it's not extremely competitive because we know each other and we play all the time, but it's a great preparation for every team event, really, and of course, a focus towards Ryder Cup. It was great and it was great to win. I participated in two and I lost one, and it wasn't nice, so I definitely wanted to get it this time. Q. Did you watch the PresidentÂ’s Cup and were you impressed? MATTEO MANASSERO: Yeah, I think that's what the organisers should focus towards. If they can find a way to have some more players playing in the Seve Trophy, then it could become an event like The Presidents Cup really, because the players that we have in Europe are obviously as good as the players that were in The Presidents Cup. So I think it's an event that should be almost like that. I wouldn't say as much as that, because everything that happens in America is so huge, but we should have something similar, because Great Britain and Ireland and Continental Europe, for how well we do in The Ryder Cup, we should deserve a preparation for The Ryder Cup that is as big as what they get. So I was watching it a little bit, not so much, because in the end, we were coming back late and we didn't have so much spare time to be honest, but it was fun to watch. It was even more fun to play the Seve Trophy, really. Q. Saint‑Nom‑la‑Bretèche it's a course where one of the best players, Limaplays. MATTEO MANASSERO: Yeah, I know Lima, I didn't know he plays there but I know Lima, he's a nice guy. Q. This is not supposed to be a very long course; does that suit you? MATTEO MANASSERO: This is not a short course, though. It's got a mix here. It's just a course where there is a lot of birdies done, made and usually pretty low scores in great conditions. So I think it suits whoever, long hitter or short hitter that just hits the ball well during the week and it suits everybody. I think we have a bit of everything won this tournament, not only long hitters. Q. Does this bring extra pressure, if you are not doing birdies enough, you start thinking, every year, there's a lot of birdies here, I should be doing some of them? MATTEO MANASSERO: Well, it doesn't‑‑ if you tell yourself, yeah, probably at the beginning of the week, if you have to reach 20‑under probably to win or something like that, very similar, anyway. So it brings a bit of pressure, but you know, it's just normal. Because, you know, you've got 120 players, I don't know how many we are really, but nobody came here to just watch, you know. We are all trying our best and we are 90 per cent of the field is probably playing well, and just come and make birdies. So you have to then in the end come out as a winner; you need to play well. It doesn't really bring extra pressure if you think that you have to reach that number. If you can't reach it, it doesn't matter, but at least you told yourself the truth. And it's been like this for the last‑‑ since I came here, it's always been like this, low scoring, unless a bit of wind picks up, but it's forecasted to be absolutely perfect. It's going to be a low scoring week. It doesn't bring extra pressure. You just have to play well and make putts. Q. Some Spanish players come, they feel almost like home, and obviously Francesco has had very good results in the past; as an Italian, do you also feel a special connection when you come to Portugal? MATTEO MANASSERO: It's Latin. We are not very different for sure. Obviously it's not like being in Italy because we don't get so many Italians here watching, but I feel a nice atmosphere. Doesn't matter where‑‑ if I'm in Portugal or whatever, but in this place, I feel a nice atmosphere, even if‑‑ it's pretty close to Italy, yes but it's closer to Spain than to Italy as culture and everything. But I'm very happy to come here every year just because of everything; I like the place here. I like the atmosphere in general. Q. Playing the Pro‑Am today‑‑ we have a footballer playing today from ‑‑ inaudible‑‑ MATTEO MANASSERO: I appreciate him as a player. Not really supporting him though. Q. Have you spoken to McGinley about qualifying for The Ryder Cup? MATTEO MANASSERO: Yeah, I think all of the players at the Seve Trophy sat down with him and had a little bit of a chat. He's a very direct guy. He wants a direct relationship between the players and captains, so I think he's got in his mind probably the 50 players, 40 players, that could qualify for The Ryder Cup, and he's going directly to everyone and speaking, because, you know, that is his way of being. And I thought he was really nice with me, just coming and saying, look, you know, obviously you're playing well and everything, so just keep it going and it would be great if you make it in the team. He's a very straightforward captain, and that's what I personally like. I don't know about the rest of the players, but I like somebody that comes to you and says, look, you're a possibility, so if you keep going like this, you've got your chances. That makes you feel‑‑ it made me feel good, you know. It made me feel like he's just watching every single player, and he was at the Seve Trophy the whole week, definitely took some notes. He seemed to be enjoying being there and watching all of us playing in The Ryder Cup format. So he did speak to me. It was just a nice, normal chat. Nothing really special and nothing that put me extra pressure. It just made me understand that he's watching all of us. Q. Did you learn any lessons two years ago, trying to qualify, not to play too many events or how to set your schedule out?  Still very early in your career. MATTEO MANASSERO: Well, I think to qualify in The Ryder Cup, you just have to play well. I mean, you can play whatever you want; if you play the two main tours and you play well in one of them, the other one or the two of them, you're going to qualify, and that's about it. I'm thinking on my schedule for the next year, but nothing is really set yet. I just thought about this end of the year and it's really busy and that's what I'm focusing on. I didn't think I made many mistakes the last time, so definitely something similar, and then I have to play better. You know, that's it. It's not that I didn't qualify because I made mistakes on schedule. So it was fine for me. SARAH GWYNN:  Good luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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