The weather, so unpredictable that baseball caps and sun cream as well as snoods and woolie hats were required at various points of the day, provided a metaphor of Italian’s Matteo Manassero’s rebound on the DP World Tour this season as the 31-year-old moved into solo lead in the Amgen Irish Open at the iconic links at Royal Country Down.
Manassero’s rebirth on the main tour, after a spell on the Challenge Tour and indeed on the developmental Alps Tour, continued as he produced a superb 66 for a midway total of six-under-par 136 that gave him a one-stroke lead over English duo Todd Clements and Laurie Canter, sporting a new Scottie Cameron putter, with a quartet that numbered Rory McIlroy among those a shot further back.
For a player who won the DP World Tour’s flagship event, the BMW International in 2013, and once reached 25th in the world rankings before losing form, Manassero’s journey back to the big time has been one of perseverance and self-belief. This time last year he was playing on the Challenge Tour and ranked 366th in the world.
But a return to the main circuit as a graduate of the Challenge Tour provided sustenance to his comeback. A win in the Jonsson Workwear Open in South Africa at the start of the season, one of five top-10s so far this season, improved his status and he’s now up to 127th in the world rankings.
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The manner of his second-round play here, which included two eagles, was that of the Manassero of old. Confident. Assured. Great ball-striking.
“I played really well. I am so happy how I handled myself in difficult conditions this afternoon. There is not much you can do. You have to hit good shots, and the way the golf course is, you need to start it in the right place with the right trajectory and the right shape. Otherwise, it is just not good enough. So, I am really happy with how I played and obviously with the score,” said Manassero, a five-time winner on the European Tour.
Of the challenge, presented by the course and the elements, Manassero observed: “It takes a lot of energy out of you, the cold and the wind for sure. But when you are playing well, the adrenaline kicks in, and I am looking forward to tomorrow.
“I have a nice rest ahead of me but I will be fresh tomorrow for sure. Then I will be tired at the end of the day and then there is another one. So, there is a long way to go. To keep the energy is important. This course is demanding. So it is not easy.”
Although the wind dropped to a pale imitation of the one which had incited fear of potential carnage earlier in the week, the difficulty of the course remained clear and obvious. There were those who reached for the top only to topple. Spaniard Alejandro Del Rey had the outright lead when he suffered a quadruple-bogey on the 15th, one of those tee balls lost to the gorse; while Daniel Brown led playing the ninth, his closing hole, only to run up a triple-bogey.
Séamus Power, too, found problems which tested his resilience. Two double-bogeys – on the eighth and 13th – threatened to leave him outside the cut line, but the Waterford player responded superbly to birdie two of his closing four holes, the 15th and 17th, for a 69 for 143, two over.
Power (+2) was one of five Irish players to make the cut, where he joined McIlroy (-4), Lowry (-1), amateur Seán Keeling (level), Séamus Power (+1) and Tom McKibbin (+1).
“The standard of golf is crazy, plus-3 for two rounds and you’re going home? It’s mental,” said Power, his remark given merit by the difficult examination set by the RCD links.
There was no watching of scoreboards or anticipating cut lines from Power as he successfully made it through. And, with the forecast for a change in the wind direction and of gusts predicted to reach 40km per hour, Power – like everyone playing catch-up on Manassero – still held hope.
“This place is tough because you have the blind shots that just always make things a little bit tricky, even on a sort of normal day. And then the greens are running pretty quickly. It’s going to be tough. If you get gusts like that, it’s going to be brutal; like I still think if it blows like that . . . what is he? Six under.
“It wouldn’t shock me if he came back. You never know. I feel like, if I can get to, you know, two or three under tomorrow, going into Sunday, I don’t think I’m going to be too far back,” said Power.
Indeed, there was a sense from each of the quintet of Irish survivors into the weekend, with the prospect of tougher weather conditions, both wind and rain, that the chance to play catch-up makes for genuine aspirations to contend for the title.
Most eyes will be on McIIroy as much as Manassero, but – as Power indicated – the packed nature with only eight shots separating the field, on a links with such mischievous intent, will make for an interesting weekend.
