Matteo Manassero has put himself quickly in position to again eclipse the accomplishments of idol Seve Ballesteros with an impressive display of 66 on the first day of the Nordea Masters in Sweden.

The 20-year old Italian sensation birdied his opening six holes to share the lead on six under par with Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal on the Bro Hot Slott course in Stockholm.

Matteon Manassero is his traditional Sunday green pants along with Euroepan Tour CEO, George O’Grady. (Photo – www.golffile.ie)

Manessero’s effort comes just four days after he wore his traditional Sunday green pants in honour of the late Ballesteros to become the youngest-ever winner of the BMW PGA Championship.

“I’ve never started that well in my career, and it was a great start as I was making putts and a start like that seemed a little strange as I was no used to it,” said Manassero ahead of the second round.

“I had been hoping to start the tournament in the right frame of mind early on and that happened really well.

“It was a guess how I would wake up this morning as I had been pretty tired up until last night but I woke up and I felt good, and I could see that from the first tee when I hit good shots.”

Ballesteros was 20 years and three months old when he captured a fourth European Tour in winning the 1977 Swiss Open.

Last Sunday, Manassero was some two months younger than Ballesertos in winning a similar number of Tour victories at age 20 years and 37 days

And if Manassero, who also always s wears navy blue during the week of an event in further honour of Ballesteros, should succeed this Sunday in Sweden he would be more than 13 months younger than when the Spanish legend won a fifth Tour title.

“Seve Ballesteros has always been my idol given his personality and what he did for golf and the tournaments that he won, and the way he won them, was different to other golfers,” said Manassero.

Two-time Tour winner Larrazabal capped his round with four birdies over his opening nine holes.

“I played great to be five under par after 10 holes and then six under par after 14 and even after a bogey at 16 I managed to birdie the last to get to six under par,” said the Barcelona-born Larrazabal.

“So I played steady and I played safe but then I played aggressive where I could, so seven birdies in a round if good for me.”

Four players, the Swedish pair of Alex Noren and Fredrik Andersson-Hed along with Welshman Jamie Donaldson and the England duo of Chris Llyoyd and Simon Wakefield are next best on five under par.

Donaldson, the reigning Irish Open and Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship title holder, collected his five birdies over his outward nine and then had nine pars in succession in his 67.

Five players, among them Spain’s Alejandro Canizares, who led going into the final round last week at Wentworth, are tied in eighth place on four under par.

Sweden’s Peter Hanson, and the highest world ranked player in the field at No. 23, signed for a three under par 69.