He may have been born in 1996 but Renato Paratore is already making a name for himself in professional golf thanks to his game, his swing and his pace of play. Known as one of the quickest players around, the Italian represents a new breed of young, continental Europeans on Tour. We caught up with the 19 year old at the Nordea Masters to get his take on things.
Life is good at the moment– I’m enjoying everything and am loving being a professional golfer. I’m happy with my form as well. At the moment I’m playing consistently and although I haven’t finished right up there in many events, I’ve made a lot of cuts so that’s good. I finished in the top ten in Morocco. That was my best result, and I also had some other good finishes. I’m playing well so I want to turn that form into more positive results. My chipping is the strongest part of my game at the moment and my driving has really improved too, which bodes well for the rest of 2016.
I’ve always played quickly. I see the shot and I hit the ball. Simple.When I was playing as an amateur, I was even faster than I am now! I follow my routine because it works for me, and I feel comfortable with it. I very rarely take a practice swing. Maybe twice a round I’ll take a practice swing. If I played by myself I would like to break the record for the quickest round on The European Tour.
My goal is to finish in the top 60 of The Race to Dubai
this season. If I can’t achieve that, then to finish in the top 100 would be OK. But the goal is top 60, especially after last year when I managed to only just get my card for this year by finishing 109th! I was so nervous about that and don’t want to go through that again, but in the end I made it and here I am now in beautiful Sweden.
I’m from Rome so to play in the 2022 Ryder Cup in my home city and home country is a dream of mine
. It’s my number one goal. It will be so good for Italian golf, and I hope it will really help the game in my country as well. Maybe some of the Roma football players will come to watch. They’re my team and whenever I’m at home in Rome I always go to the Stadio Olimpico (Roma’s home ground) and watch them play. I love the atmosphere at the games. I’ve not met any of the players yet though.”
The course this week looks great.This is my first time here, but I like what I’ve seen so far. It’s also close to the centre of Stockholm, so I’m keen to experience the restaurants and culture of this cool city this week. Travelling to different parts of the world is one of the best parts of being a professional golfer. My favourite place I’ve visited this year has been Dubai – I really like it there. We also visit some fantastic cities in Europe, so you get some great experiences from being on the road all the time.”
It’s nice now that I can just focus on the golf after I finished my studies last year at school.As far as grades go, let’s say I just made the cut! I was right on the cut mark, but I pulled through in the end. I studied Linguistics, focusing on Spanish, English and German, but my German isn’t the best. I’m confident with English, Spanish and, of course, Italian.
Being on tour helps with learning languages, although I spend a lot of time with the Italian and Spanish players as we have quite similar cultures. My best friend on tour is Matteo Manassero. We have a lot of fun together, and I’ve known him for a very long time now. Hopefully we can continue to have fun and achieve success in the future.
