Manassero to turn pro

Italian teenager Matteo Manassero has announced he is to turn professional after competing at The Masters next month.

Teenager to join paid ranks after Augusta debut

Italian teenager Matteo Manassero has announced he is to turn professional after becoming the youngster-ever player to compete at The Masters next month. The 16-year-old confirmed his decision at a golf show in his home town of Verona and revealed his first outing in the paid ranks will come at the Italian Open in Turin on May 6-9. Manassero is the reigning British amateur champion and memorably finished 13th in the Open Championship last July. Not 17 until April 19, the youngster played with Tom Watson and Sergio Garcia in the first two rounds at Turnberry and his two-over-par total of 282 was only one shot outside the Open record by an amateur - set by England's Iain Pyman at Sandwich in 1993 and matched by Tiger Woods at Royal Lytham three years later. He has gone on to make the halfway cut in five of his six European Tour appearances to date and will be allowed seven invitations to events in a bid to avoid qualifying school at the end of the season. Manassero will be one of four teenagers competing at The Masters in April. United States champion An Byeong-hun, the son of two Olympic table tennis medallists, turned 18 last September and is the same age as his compatriot Han Chang-won, winner of the inaugural Asian Amateur crown. Meanwhile, Japan's leading young talent Ryo Ishikawa qualifies courtesy of the fact he is ranked inside the world's top 50 following multiple wins on the Japanese Tour. The Masters takes place at Augusta National on April 8-11.