BMW Italian Open

May 7th, 2010

Turin was this week’s destination for the European Tour with the Royal Park I Roveri Golf Club playing host to the Italian Open. Northern Italy sounds like a lovely destination at this time of year so imagine our surprise as the Titleist Tour Team rolled into town to be greeted by consistent and torrential rain. In fact, the weather was so appalling that the range was closed for long spells during the usual pre-tournament practice days which meant a quieter week on the equipment front aboard the Titleist Tour Support Vehicle (TTSV).

The Italian Open is always a significant week for Italian Golf but this week it has extra significance as it marks the professional debut of their most promising golfing talent. 17-year old Matteo Manassero makes his European Tour bow as a professional in Turin following a glittering amateur career which saw him clinch the 2009 British Amateur Championship and establish himself as the #1 ranked amateur in world golf. In addition to a host of amateur honours Matteo also claimed the low amateur crown at the 2009 Open Championship and, more recently, at Augusta back in April of this year where he was competing as the youngest player in the history of the Masters tournament. The buzz surrounding the arrival of Matteo amongst the professional ranks is palpable and no where is this more evident than in his native Italy where a partizan crowd will cheer him every step of the way.

Click here to view the slideshow

In addition to his arrival on the European Tour, Matteo has also become our latest Titleist Ambassador and, having trusted Titleist throughout his amateur career will go into his first event as a professional with a full bag of Titleist clubs and the Titleist Pro V1x golf ball in play. We had the opportunity to catch up with Matteo this week in rain-soaked Turin and snapped some pictures aboard the TTSV – check out this week’s slideshow to see the man himself (and his Titleist equipment of course!).

Matteo Manassero

Model: Titleist 909D3
Loft: 8.5°
Shaft: UST Mayima Proforce AXIVCore 69 X-Flex
Length: 45”
Grip: Tour Velvet .580 Round (+1/64” Reversed)
Swingweight: D3

Model: Titleist 909F2
Loft: 13.5°
Shaft: UST Mayima Proforce V2 86 X-Flex
Length: 43”
Grip: Tour Velvet .580 Round (+1/64” Reversed)
Swingweight: D3

Model: Titleist 909H
Loft: 17°
Shaft: Fujikura Speeder 904HB X-Flex
Length: 41”
Grip: Tour Velvet .580 Round (+1/64” Reversed)
Swingweight: D3

Model: Titleist AP2 (New #3 Iron, Original 4-PW)
Composition: 3-PW
Shafts: True Temper Project X 5.5
Length: Standard (#6 @ 37.50”)
Lie: 1° Flat (#6 @ 61.5°)
Grip: Tour Velvet .580 Round (+1/64” Reversed)
Swingweight: D2

Model: Titleist Vokey Spin Milled C-C
Loft / Bounce: 252.08 and 58° (TVD M-Grind)
Shafts: True Temper Project X 5.5
Length: Standard
Lie: 1° Flat
Grip: Tour Velvet .580 Round (+1/64” Reversed)
Swingweight: D3

Model: Scotty Cameron Studio Select Tour Black Newport

At the time of writing Matteo is tied for eighth place at three under par. It’s no surprise to see the seemingly unflappable teenager making a highly competent start to his professional career. Watch this space!!

Another Titleist Ambassador to check-in with the team in Italy was Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal. Regular readers of the Titleist Tour Blog will know of Pablo’s penchant for putters and this continued in Turin as he caught sight of a Scotty Cameron Laguna 2. True to form the putter didn’t stay aboard the TTSV for long and Pablo is going to test it over the coming weeks. In addition, Pablo’s 909 fairways have been into the TTSV for a reshaft. Pablo has recently switched to the new Aldila RIP shaft in his driver and wanted the fairway shafts to match so the team set about switching out his existing Grafalloy Comp NT shafts in favour of the RIP 80 X-Flex. The fairways are back in Pablo’s bag and we’ll look forward to him giving them RIP.

Don’t forget that you can now follow the Titleist European Tour Team on a daily basis using Twitter. The guys have posted plenty of content during their time in Turin this week and will continue to do so as they move onto Majorca for the Iberdola Open de Cala Millor Mallorca. Until next week it’s ‘Arrivederci’ from Turin.

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