Elliot Saltman: ‘Cheat’ Tag Will Linger
TURIN, ITALY | Elliot Saltman admitted in an
interview with BBC Radio Scotland “The Golf
Show” the stigma of cheating will dog him for
the rest of his golfing career. But the Scot believes he has the mental strength to cope and
says his recent promising form has shown he
belongs on the European Tour stage.
“I know it will die down, but it will be with
me for the rest of the game,” said Saltman in
reference to his ban for marking his ball incor-
rectly. “I can take it on the chin, but the down-
side is that people won’t let go.”
The European Tour suspended the 29-year-
old for three months in January for the offence
during the first round of the Russian Challenge
Cup in 2010. Having won a place on the Tour, via
the Q-School final in December, Saltman missed
a small chunk of the season, and last week’s Ital-
ian Open, where he missed the cut, was his sixth
tournament since he returned to playing.
His confidence has been boosted
by a 12th-place finish at the
Wales Open, which featured a remarkable two
holes-in-one.
Colin Montgomerie, desperately trying to
qualify for the Open Championship, missed
another cut, this time in Italy, despite a better
performance. The Scot signed for a 3-over 75 on
Thursday and, although he then carded a 2-un-
der 70, it was not enough to play the weekend.
Italian teenager Matteo Manassero lived up
to the huge expectations on him with a breath-taking start to his Italian Open campaign in
Turin on Thursday. His thrilling birdie-eagle-birdie run proved to be the foundation for a
first-round, 6-under-par 66 at Royal Park.
Even though the spectator paths were squishing with mud after heavy rain, Manassero, 18, had
a huge gallery to watch him begin his bid to win
his home Open and they were not disappointed.
“It was definitely the best start of my
career,” he said. “It was good to be here with
people seeing it.”
Manassero continued his fine play through-
out the week, adding rounds of 68-70-68 to
finish on 16 under. That was good for
T8 with countryman Francesco
Molinari and South African Jbe
Kruger. l
Matteo Manassero (left) and
Francesco Molinari.
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