From World Rankings Crash to PGA Tour Contention: The Remarkable Comeback Story

TORONTO — If you don’t recognize the name Matteo Manassero tied for the lead heading into Sunday’s final round of the RBC Canadian Open, you’re not alone. But this Italian’s story represents one of golf’s most remarkable resurrection tales.

At 32 years old, Manassero finds himself in a position to complete one of the sport’s most unlikely comebacks after firing a third-round 64 on Saturday at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley. Tied with Ryan Fox for the 54-hole lead, Manassero has a chance to pen the greatest chapter yet in his extraordinary journey from golf’s abyss back to its summit.

The Rise and Fall

Manassero’s golf story reads like a Hollywood script. In 2009, at just 16 years old, he became the youngest player ever to win the British Amateur. One month later, he was the top amateur at the Open Championship, finishing T13 at Turnberry – just four shots outside the playoff between Stewart Cink and Tom Watson.

By year’s end, he was the world’s No. 1 ranked amateur. The following April, he became the youngest player to make the cut at the Masters. After turning professional, success continued with four European Tour victories, including the prestigious 2013 BMW PGA Championship where he outdueled stars like Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els, and Lee Westwood. He climbed to No. 25 in the world rankings.

Then everything fell apart.

The Crash

Manassero’s decline was swift and brutal. After just one top-10 finish in 2014 and making only six cuts in 2015, he lost his European Tour card by 2018. The smooth-swinging Italian who once seemed destined for golf stardom found himself questioning everything about the game that had defined his life.

“I cobwebbed my sticks briefly after losing my joy for the game,” Manassero reflected. He took time away from golf to reflect on life, eventually meeting his wife Francesca Apollonio and searching for happiness beyond the sport that had both elevated and devastated him.

The Long Road Back

Manassero’s resurrection began at the very bottom of professional golf. In 2020, he could only play on the Alps Tour – European golf’s third division. But it was there, in September 2020, that his great revival began with a victory at the Toscano Alps Open.

Step by step, he climbed back up golf’s ladder. The Alps Tour win earned him a spot on the Challenge Tour. Two Challenge Tour victories in 2023 got him back to the DP World Tour. Last March, he fully reemerged with a DP World Tour victory at the Jonsson Workwear Open in South Africa, which earned him his 2025 PGA Tour card.

New Perspective, Same Talent

What’s different about Manassero now isn’t his swing – it’s his mindset. The journey through golf’s wilderness taught him valuable lessons about focusing on process over results.

“It’s definitely made me more mature and much better perspective towards golf, which at one point was everything,” Manassero said Saturday. “The results-oriented approach, which I discovered was not a very good thing for my game and for me. So I switched away from that, and I try to get a good attitude, a good thought process, talk well to myself. Very basic things, but that’s what I learned.”

Sunday’s Stakes

A victory on Sunday would mean much more than just a PGA Tour title. It would secure invitations to the Masters, PGA Championship, and Players Championship, plus a two-year PGA Tour exemption. But perhaps more importantly, it would validate one of golf’s most inspiring comeback stories.

Manassero’s best PGA Tour finish came at the 2014 Valspar Championship (T8), with this season’s best being a T12 at the Zurich Classic team event. Sunday represents his biggest opportunity yet to prove that his remarkable journey from golf’s basement back to contention isn’t finished.

As Manassero prepares for Sunday’s final round, he carries not just the hope of victory, but the knowledge that he’s already accomplished something far more difficult – finding his way back from the abyss to write his own ending to a story that seemed finished years ago.