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How do you become the longest shooter of the European
Tour? Emanuele Canonica has heard this question far too many times
, since when 1998 he began to dominate the driving distance statistics
with an average of 295,3 yards, just a little more than Tiger
Woods (293,1 yards) and a little less than John
Daly (305,6 yards).
But his fame of a hitter spread even before, during the Catalan Open
in Spain in 1996 the news of one of his monstrous drives of 455 yards
rapidly reached the international media. “I had the wind in my
favor and the hole was downhill”, he explained, as if he was
justifying himself. Since that day “cannonball”
and “pocket rocket”
(referred also to his height, 5 ft 4 in) are the nicknames with which
he is known in the Tour.
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Actually, Peppo – his diminutive
– can’t give a scientific explanation for his extraordinary
power other than reply that his natural agility allows him
to exertl all his power on the ball. But he does not want
to be remembered for his quality because, yes, while it is
true that in golf length is an important factor, as well as
being spectacular, but as he has affirmed in more than one
interview – it is better to be known for the results
you obtain.
Un po’ alla Severiano Ballesteros,
insomma, e anche se non ha mai vinto il British Open o il
Masters, ha nel suo palmarès due Campionati Omnium
(1966 e ’72) e un Campionato della Pga italiana, di cui
è stato presidente per diversi anni.
Peppo grew up dedicating most of his time to golf, just like
his four brothers – two of whom are instructors. The
all inherited a real passion for the game for the game from
their father Dino, regular instructor at the Stupinigi Golf
Club in Turin and one of the best Italian players of the 60’s
who on the course, just like in life, demonstrated an imaginative
and charismatic personality. |
A little like Severiano
Ballesteros, in a word, even if he never won the British
Open or the Masters, he has in his record two Omnium Championships
(1966 and 1972), and one Championship in the Italian PGA, of which
he was president for several years.
Peppo – the fourth of five brothers
– learned to play soon after having learned to walk, and golf
immediately became his favorite sport, even though for some years
soccer was part of his childhood.
His successes at an amateur level did not take
long to come: he started out being part of the Italian National
team in 1987 along with a number of colleagues who would also choose
to be professionals. A career that lasted almost five years peaked
in 1990 when he won the National Juniors
Championship and was part of the gold medal winning team
at the European Youths' Championship. After Italy finished second
at the European Amateur Team Championship in 1991, he turned professional
at the end of the year.
After the first few years of hard work as a
professional, in 1994 his game began to mature. He won the Italian
order of merit for under-30s and by the end of the year had finished
24th at the Qualifying School, so earning an exemption for the European
Tour for the following year. This gave him a big boost to have confidence
in his own strength, even more than his 6th place at the Memorial
Barras in Switzerland or finishing runner-up at the Italian
PGA Championship.
The Italian Open of 1995 played at the Golf Club Le Rovedine (won
by Sam Torrance), gave him a chance
to be known at an international level: he finished 3rd along with
Costantino Rocca, at the time already
Italy's best player but with the best moments of his career to come.
Immediately Peppo is considered to be his worthy heir and successor.
At the end of 1996, he represented Italy in the Dunhill
Cup - a tournament contested by national teams - beating
the American left-handed Phil Mickelson,
at the time No 1 on the PGA Tour. At the end of the year Peppo decided
to place his trust in the expert eye of the instructor Giorgio
Bordoni, to improve and to perfect
his own technique; so began a solid and lasting relationship of
mutual esteem and friendship that was soon to give results.
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