WENTWORTH, United Kingdom: Italy’s Matteo Manassero rewrote the history books when he became the youngest ever winner of the European PGA Championship at Wentworth yesterday.
Manassero won a sudden death play-off against England’s Simon Khan and Scotland’s Marc Warren after the trio had finished level on 278, ten-under par.
Warren exited on the first extra hole and Manassero needed three more holes to shake off the challenge of Khan, the winner here in 2010 which he finally did with a birdie on the par-5, 18th which was played four times.
Aged 20 years and 37 days, Manassero beat Bernard Gallacher’s record as the youngest victor in the European Tour’s flagship event.
Gallacher was 20 years and 97 days old when he won in 1969.
It was Manassero’s first tour win since the 2012 Singapore Open and this was the first three-man play-off in the event since 1976.
Warren’s ball was unplayable in the trees to the right of the par-5 18th, the first extra hole, and the Scot was out of contention when his fourth shot ended up in the water beyond the green. AFP
