Matteo Manassero shot a four-under 67 in the final round to win the Castello Masters and claim a place in the history of the European Tour.
At 17 years, 188 days old, the Italian teenager is the youngest player to win on the European Tour, beating the record held by Danny Lee of New Zealand, who was 18 years, 113 days old when he won the Johnnie Walker Championship in 2008.
It is the second record of Manassero’s short career, after he also became the youngest winner — at 16 — of the British Amateur Championship last year.
After winning 330,000 euros (US$460,000), Manassero was at a loss to find a way to celebrate his victory.
“I am too young to have a drink, I am too young to drive, so I will not be buying a car and I have not got a girlfriend who would like a present, but this was my first chance to win a tournament, which I never thought would come so quickly and to do it is unbelievable,” Manassero said. “My first aim when I turned professional was to win enough money to keep my card for next year and I achieved that in September.”
Manassero started the final round at the Club de Campo del Mediterraneo two shots behind overnight leader Gary Boyd of England, but at 16-under he eventually won by four shots from Spain’s Ignacio Garrido, who shot a 68 to reach 12-under.
Boyd collapsed in the final round with three poor drives starting on the 15th hole, which led to him dropping four late shots and after a 74, he slipped back into a share of third place.
Joost Luiten (68) of the Netherlands and Ireland’s Peter Lawrie (70) also finished with a share of third place at 11-under.
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