The swimmer discovered the green with the paragolfer, a special machine that allows him to hit and compete with able-bodied players: “I’ve rediscovered my 1.95, it’s a new challenge, it doesn’t take anything away from swimming, but I dream of becoming a pro.”
A golfer by chance but always a swimmer. Manuel Bortuzzo is starting afresh on the green: in January, he will make his debut in a tournament and resume swimming with his sights set on the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles, where golf is not yet on the program. In the meantime, he is also busy with a police course in Nettuno.
Manuel, is it really a fatal attraction…?
“In the meantime, I’m training, and I’ll make my debut in 2026. It’s a sport I’ve always liked, I used to watch it on TV. I ended up at Marco Simone by chance. I moved into a house near the golf club. One day, I went to wash my car at the gas station in front of Marco Simone. A forty-year-old man arrived in a white van and got out in a hurry. I was a little scared because he was coming towards me so quickly. ‘Hi, nice to meet you, I’m Fabrizio Graziani. Do you like golf?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I like it, but I’ve never played.’ He said, ‘Do you have 10 minutes?’ I replied, ‘Yes.’ I trusted him enough to get into his car, even though he had a lanyard around his neck with ‘Marco Simone’ written on it. Ten minutes later, we were on the course in a Ryder Cup cart, the red one, going around all the holes. He explained everything to me.”
And then?
“The next day, Fabrizio introduced me to the director Marco Aquilino, the owner Lavinia Biagiotti, in short, the whole entourage.”
The federation has provided you with a special machine, a paragolfer: where does Manuel want to go?
“There’s an even bigger project behind this, which goes beyond me. Together with a coach from Manchester, Mark Taylor, who specializes in training young people with the paragolfer, we are bringing things to Italy that don’t exist here. This is just the beginning.“
Do you already have a caddie and a coach?
”My teacher is Marco Basili, and he will also be my caddie.”
Golf allows you to stand: emotions?
“I have never given up on the idea of being able to return to who I was. The way I am progressing, the way science, medicine, and everything else is evolving, I am sure that sooner or later something will happen. Golf allows me to stand for many hours; training sessions and competitions last a long time. When I want to, I look at the course, I look at my coach, I look at the people around me, I talk, I interact with people standing at my height: it’s wonderful. I see the course again, I see all these hectares, I see them from my 1.95 m height, and it’s something priceless.”
Will your swimming suffer?
“No, golf doesn’t take anything away: it’s just a challenge, it’s something extra. The best thing is that I want to do well at golf too. You don’t have that trauma of having to get in the water to train. It’s a sport where you have much more interaction with other people. In the pool, as soon as you dive in, you’re alone and you can only ask your coach for advice. In golf, you have your caddie by your side. I needed a break from swimming, but I’ll start again to focus on Los Angeles.”
Are you finding another Manuel on the green?
“It makes me feel good. When the gate closes, I immerse myself in another world. I even forget my cell phone, I live in my own oasis, with people who make me feel good. Another type of athlete is emerging, there is another person inside me, and that is Manuel the golfer. I hope this challenge will also bring the desired results. That would be wonderful. From swimming, I bring dedication, the desire to do things, competition, and volume. My coach gets angry when he sees that I already want to be a phenomenon. An athlete brings the desire to be excellent, to be perfect. Doing things well, hunger, not settling for less: I bring this from the pool.”
Phelps also chose golf…
“Phelps is also good, really good.”
Have you already met any Ryder Cup personalities?
“I am lucky to be able to train on a course like this. There are several professionals here. I often play a couple of holes with the guys, because the great thing about the Paragolfer is that I can play comfortably against able-bodied guys and golf pros. And that’s crazy. I play a couple of holes with the big names every now and then and accept all kinds of advice. Just watching them is a source of inspiration: it makes me want to be as good as them in my own way.”
Do you see yourself as a professional?
“The great thing about this sport is that age is not an issue, whereas a swimmer is already considered old at 30. The goal we are working towards is to become professionals in every sense of the word, to be able to have our say. It’s something I feel and want to do: I want to prove that I am capable.”
Who is your golf idol?
“I grew up watching Tiger Woods, and he is the legend of golf. However, there are many golfers I like, such as Bryson DeChambeau.”
What about your career as a police officer?
“I’m coming to the end of a journey, a cycle crowned by the Paralympic medal. I’ll have more responsibilities.”
Will TV suffer with all these commitments?
“I also have projects on TV, and training doesn’t affect my other commitments. I also need TV to convey certain messages. But golf will now be part of my life.”
