Life on the European Tour has been a rollercoaster for Matteo Manassero since the Italian burst on the scene seven years ago.
In 2009, at the age of 16, he became the youngest winner of the British amateur championship – a triumph that earned him a place in the Open championship at Turnberry.
He played the first two rounds in the company of Tom Watson and Sergio Garcia and revelled in the limelight – finishing tied 13th to win the silver medal as leading amateur.
The following April – still aged 16 – he became the youngest player to make the cut at the US Masters before deciding to turn professional two weeks after his 17th birthday.
His stratospheric rise in the game continued at pace in the paid ranks.
A four-stroke victory in the Castello Masters Costa Azahar in 2010 made him the youngest ever winner on the European Tour.
A second European Tour win followed in 2012 at the Malaysian Open before he claimed the Singapore Open the following year to become the first teenager to win three European Tour titles. It was little surprise when Manassero won the biggest event of his career – the 2013 BMW PGA championship at Wentworth – which moved him into the top 30 in the world rankings.
However the struggles the Italian endured in the years that followed were unexpected.
Three years on from his famous win, Manassero returned to Wentworth this May down at 856th in the world rankings.
Indeed, his only top-five finish since 2013 was at the 2014 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Royal Aberdeen.
And Manassero hopes a return to links golf can help kick-start his season.
He said: “Royal Aberdeen was my best Scottish Open so far. It was a good week for me but I always feel I can do well on links courses. They seem to suit my game so hopefully I will be in good shape. I like Castle Stuart and it is very good preparation for the Open. It is not as demanding as the other links courses, but it is always in good condition which makes it a really good venue.
“I like the fact the Scottish Open is rotated around the country. We have played in Aberdeen and Edinburgh in recent years and now we are going back to Inverness.
“It will be nice to go closer to Glasgow when we play Dundonald next year so we can see another part of the country, I think it is a great idea.”
There are four qualifying places for the Open at Royal Troon up for grabs at this year’s Scottish Open.
The places will go to the leading four players who are not otherwise exempt and finish in the top-12 and ties.
Manassero added: “The Open is always special and I hope to make it there. I have never played Troon before but I have heard it is another great course – a really classic one – and I want to be in that field.”