Giovanni Manzoni, 23, from Cremella (Lecco) has clear ideas: to turn professional as soon as he finishes his studies at the University of Florida. Number 4 in the Italian ranking and 209 in the World ranking, in his competitive path he will soon face the 2022 FISU World University Championship Golf in Turin
In 2020, you won the Absolute National Championship: two years later, do you feel changed on a sporting-competitive level?
Winning the Absolute National Championship was a great emotion, unforgettable, coming after the result of 2019 when I won the International in Switzerland. The experience in the United States allowed me to grow competitively, to train and devote myself to competitions, without neglecting my studies. I am in my last year of university, specializing in Sport Management, but in my future I see a career as a professional golfer, certainly, at least in the beginning, in Europe. Compared to two years ago I have gained confidence and determination, but also the ambition to do better and better and surpass myself.
What is the aspect of golf that you enjoy the most?
It is a sport that challenges you every day. On the course you are on your own, the opponent to beat. You have to rely on your own abilities and not on other people as in team sports, for example. This is the aspect of golf that I like best: the challenge against yourself. I started when I was 7 years old with my dad at Brianza golf and I knew right away that it was the sport for me.
The Italian team is a very close team even off the course….
The fact that we know each other is an added value because making a group helps to take off some of the stress of competition and to have fun. When you don’t play well you find support in your teammates, as happens in the competitions we do in the United States. You don’t have to focus only on yourself, but you also have to think about the team because your result can always be useful and that spurs you to do better, to give your best.