Nino Bertasio’s hands are marked by small hardened callouses. Each tiny spot on his palms signifies the struggle and strain to survive in professional golf. Every time the world No475 grips a club he has the potential to win a tournament and safeguard his financial future for months and begin a climb to fame; or conversely miss a cut and begin a spiral downwards in confidence and ranking points.
He joined the European Tour in 2015 after a long struggle to qualify and, as he speaks from the Valderrama Golf Club, he can’t stop smiling. “Being here at the Spanish Open, it’s incredible to look back at where I came from. Those long days alone, just hoping you’d have enough in you to qualify for the main tour, it’s made the pain worth it.” To the uninitiated, his ranking of 475 may appear humble but it came after a lifetime of sacrifice. Bertasio was ranked outside the world’s top 500 players until an 11th-place finish in the Spanish Open last weekend helped him jump up 95 places.
The prodigious amateur talent, who turned professional in 2011, was born in Switzerland but raised in Italy and sees himself as a mixture of the two. “I am very methodical and organised, I hate being late for anything, but then my love outside of golf is eating and cooking – so I suppose that mix of Swiss and Italian complements my life.”
To fund his first year on the professional circuit Bertasio had to rely on the financial support from an eclectic group of sponsors, a combination of businesses and personal connections. He initially competed on what is known as the mini tour, the bottom rung of the professional golf ladder. For an aspiring professional who hasn’t qualified for the main European Tour this is where you start, before hopefully graduating to the penultimate stage, the European Challenge Tour.
He has not forgotten the difficulty he went through in those early years. Far from the packed galleries and the cameras, Bertasio played on rutted courses across Europe from 2011 until 2014. After staying in the cheapest lodgings available, he walked courses that often resembled rugby pitches. “I never forget how lucky I am to play this game, but in terms of glamour in those early years? No, forget it. I remember going to a tournament in Luxembourg and we weren’t allowed to use woods on the driving range as it wasn’t big enough – we’d have hit the ball out into the car park, so we used irons to be safe. We didn’t have any spectators, you were alone out there; make a mistake and you had to rectify it quickly.”
Away from the support team of his amateur years, his form suffered as he travelled through obscure parts of Europe hoping to string some wins together. Confidence was in short supply and loneliness was a constant companion. He sat by himself in cheap hotel rooms, questioning the life he was leading. “Those years were hard. You’re questioning everything, why have I devoted my life to this dream? I remember driving home one day, having failed to qualify again for the Tour. I stopped the car, turned off the ignition and just burst into tears. It’s a hard thing, as you’re wrestling with whether to keep going after a consuming dream, or just to stop and settle down. Somehow, I just could never find it in myself to give up.”
He watched his childhood friend and fellow golfer Matteo Manassero find early success at the very start of his career with wins on the European Tour in his teens before losing form recently. After those early wins, Manassero was ranked 25th in the world, today he sits 893rd. Golf does not offer the solace of team-mates; your failures are yours to bear alone. Companionship and camaraderie on the course are fleeting, a light joke with your playing partner and the yardage from your caddy is the most you can expect.
Bertasio’s early failures proved a blessing in retrospect. “Obviously at the time I was feeling huge pressure, financially and on my game. I knew I had to turn things around. But I also had the benefit of making all of my mistakes far from the eyes of the world. I was able to get knocked around on the course, go to sleep, come back and find it in myself to keep improving.”
His patience paid off as he won the Alps Tour Order of Merit in 2014 and graduated on to the Challenge Tour, one rung below the main European tour. His form in 2015 finally led to him qualifying for the Tour.
Golf consumes his life, leading to a monastic existence with a supportive girlfriend who has been with him since he was 15. Bertasio wakes up early, works in minute detail on his swing mechanics, and stays late in the gym. He thinks back and smiles at his childhood in Italy, filled with carefree days playing on motorcycles. Today, detail reigns supreme, the smallest movement in his hips can dictate his financial stability for months.
“When you want something badly, you have to look at it as a journey. In that journey things will go wrong regularly and you need to have a strong support network. I’ve been blessed with that with family and friends certainly. There were times I wanted to give it up, go back and live a normal life of sorts, but they kept me going.”
Having reached the European Tour aged 27, Bertasio has no wish to return to his formative years in Europe’s humble golfing outposts. He now competes against the world’s best players. He saw Rory McIlroy recently in the communal gym and marveled at the Northern Irishman’s strength. He currently has his sights set on the Olympic Games in Rio, where he would like to represent Italy with Ryder Cup player Francesco Molinari. “To represent Italy I have to be the second best player in the country, which is obviously a huge challenge, but you need to have dreams and aspirations and this is what I’m working towards currently. Representing my country in Rio would be the ultimate goal. After those days struggling on the mini tour, this would be a dream to get there.”
Bertasio spent an eclectic childhood playing ice hockey in Switzerland and football in Italy. He understands the joy that sport can bring to others and is passionate about growing golf, which is out of reach for many children in Italy. “The best thing about joining the European Tour is the interaction you can have with the kids who come to the tournaments. I didn’t come from a wealthy family – I got lucky that I had a good amateur career, so got support. I would love the game to be more open for all kids to have a chance to experience it. Every chance I get at a tournament, I will go over a have a chat with the kids there, just to get them excited and interested in this game.”
The life of an unheralded European Tour golfer is filled with travel, swapping anonymous hotels and learning to read unfamiliar courses with different caddies. Even though Bertasio grew up in the sun at Lake Garda, he also loves playing in the wind and rain of the British Isles. “When you’re a player, you’re receptive to a crowd, or at least I am. So many years of me walking around tournaments alone, I now feed of the energy of the British and Irish crowds. I love their energy and knowledge for the game. You forget about the weather, and just enjoy being out with them and sharing a brilliant day.”
As the weekend at Valderrama came to a close, Bertasio was able to look back with satisfaction at performance in a field containing Ryder Cup stars Sergio García and Martin Kaymer. But he has little time to let the achievement sink in before planning his next tournament. Bertasio hasn’t stopped working to get to the base camp of professional golf and he will hope to reach the summit with his first European Tour title soon.
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