Manassero, 16, to turn professional after Masters

The reigning British Amateur champion, who finished a brilliant 13th in the Open last July, said at a golf show in his home town Verona that he will make his professional debut at the Italian Open in Turin on 6-9 May.

Not 17 until 19 April, Manassero played with Tom Watson and Sergio Garcia at Turnberry and his two-over-par total of 282 was only one outside the Open record by an amateur, set by England's Iain Pyman at Sandwich in 1993 and matched by Tiger Woods at Lytham three years later. He has made the halfway cut in five out of six appearances on the European Tour so far and will be allowed seven invitations to events in a bid to avoid the qualifying school at the end of the season.

Manassero is one of four teenagers in the Masters. United States champion Byeong-Hun An, 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, and Ryo Ishikawa, already in the world's top 50 and a multiple winner on the Japanese Tour.

Meanwhile, American Hunter Mahan closed with a six-under 65 and overcame a final-round challenge from South Korea's Yang Yong-eun to win the Phoenix Open on Sunday. PGA champion Yang, who started the day six strokes behind the lead, had also fired a 65 and was in control of the tournament before he threw away a two-stroke advantage on the 17th with a costly bogey when he pulled his drive into the water.

Mahan made a 14-foot birdie putt on the raucous 16th hole then capped his round with a six-footer for par to conclude at 16-under, one stroke better than fellow American Rickie Fowler, and claim his second PGA Tour title. "This means a lot, to play the way I did down the stretch, (it] feels great," said Mahan after coming from four back to win his first event since 2007.