The Italian golfer’s professional career began when he was 17 and while he enjoyed a stellar start by winning his first major after just a few weeks and scoring a string of high-profile victories, he then took about decade to win again on the main circuit as he career went into freefall.

And now, Matteo – who lost his European tour card in 2018 - admitted he got too focused on results to relax and enjoy the game.

He told bunkered magazine: “I got stuck in the orientation of just looking at results.

“It’s impossible to enjoy every moment if your focus is just results because we don’t always play well.

“Some days are bad days, some moments during the season are bad periods, so it’s impossible.”

The 32-year-old sportsman decided to take a break in 2019, and the COVID-19 pandemic allowed him the time and space to find “peace”.

He said: “It just felt really, really difficult and I knew it wasn’t that difficult.

“I didn’t really say, ‘No, I’ve had enough.’ It was, ‘It won’t keep going like this.’

“It was a full stop. I took the time to restructure the team around me, finding the spark again…

“We’re bombarded with a lot of goals and a lot of results and all of that.

“But in COVID, zero.

“I was at peace at that point in time and thinking, ‘I’ve got time. Let’s take it slow.’

“It was a tough time, yes. But for me, it was quite helpful.”