Manassero crowned Rookie of the Year

As predicted by Ian Poulter, Italian wunderkind Matteo Manassero has won the European Tour's Rookie of the Year award following a record-breaking start to his professional career.

The teenager turned pro in May before making history at the Castello Masters in October as the youngest ever winner in European Tour history (taylormade burner rescue hybrid )at the age of 17 years and 188 days.

Manassero finished 31st in the Race to Dubai and joins the likes of Poulter, Nick Faldo,Sergio Garcia, Paul Caseyand Martin Kaymer in picking up the Sir Henry Cotton award.

"It is a big honour to win the rookie of the year award (taylormade r7 cgb max)," he said. "I never expected to win on tour so quickly and to win the rookie of the year award is a perfect way to end my first season as a professional.

"It is such a special award because you only get one chance to win it, so it is a great honour.

"When you see the amazing players that have won the award in the past, you see how important these players were in golf's history and to have your name beside them is exciting.

"Then you see that Martin Kaymer won the Rookie of the Year only three years ago and now he is the number one in Europe after winning the Race to Dubai. I hope I can follow in Martin's footsteps one day."

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