Brandon Matthews

Brandon Michael Matthews (born July 27, 1994) is an American professional golfer from Dupont, Pennsylvania. He has won two tournaments on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica.

Brandon Matthews
Personal information
Full nameBrandon Michael Matthews
Born (1994-07-27) July 27, 1994
Dupont, Pennsylvania
Height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight210 lb (95 kg; 15 st)
Nationality United States
Career
CollegeTemple University
Turned professional2016
Current tour(s)Web.com Tour
Former tour(s)PGA Tour Latinoamérica
Professional wins4

Amateur career

Matthews started playing golf at one or two years of age using plastic clubs and got his first set of "real clubs" at age 4 and really started getting out at Emanon C.C. Growing up he also played basketball and competitive baseball. When Matthews was 12 or 13, he played on five or six baseball teams but gave up baseball to focus on golf.

Matthews attended Pittston Area High School and played on their golf team. He was the 2010 PIAA Boys' Golf State champion. In 2011 Matthews was the Golf Association of Philadelphia Junior Boys champion.[1]

Matthews played college golf at Temple University beginning in 2012.[2] He tied the school record for career tournament titles, matching Geoffrey Sisk's mark of eight set back in 1986.

In 2014 Matthews was the Dixie Amateur champion.

Professional career

Matthews turned professional in October 2016. He finished tied for 9th place in the Mexican qualifying for the 2017 PGA Tour Latinoamérica, earning his card for the 2017 season.[3] Matthews had a successful start to his professional career, finishing tied for 9th place in his first professional tournament, the Avianca Colombia Open, and winning his second event, the Molino Cañuelas Championship.[3][4]

Matthews enjoyed a successful, but "scary" 2017 season, overcoming an absence for a herniated disc and two bulging discs to earn advancement from the PGA Tour Latinoamérica to the Web.com Tour.[5] Matthews earned that invitation to the Final Stage of Q School for the Web.com Tour after finishing his rookie campaign on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica. He finished within the top 45 earning conditional status on the Web.com Tour. Conditional status guaranteed him a spot in any and all of the first eight tournaments of the season.

Making enough cuts and earning enough cumulative money afforded him status for the entire year (2018) on the Web.com Tour. Matthews best finish of the year so far came from the Nashville Golf Open where he finished T7.[3] He also finished T10 at the North Mississippi Classic.Matthews didn't finish high enough in 2019 to retain his Korn Ferry Tour privileges, but he retained his PGA Tour Latinoamérica card for 2020.

In November 2019, Matthews lost the Visa Open de Argentina title in a playoff after a fan with Down syndrome made a loud distracting noise. Matthews went on record absolving the fan of responsibility for his loss and gave him a signed glove.[6] While the playoff loss in Argentina cost him entry into The 2020 Open (which was cancelled), the gesture earned Matthews a sponsor exemption into the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational on the PGA Tour.[7]

Amateur wins
  • 2011 Philadelphia Junior Championship
  • 2012 Silver Cross Award, Hartford Hawk Invitational, Philadelphia Big 5 Invitational
  • 2013 Princeton Invitational, Silver Cross Award, Barnabas Health Intercollegiate
  • 2014 Temple Invitational, Dixie Amateur
  • 2015 Furman Intercollegiate, Princeton Invitational

Source:[1][2][8]

Professional wins (4)

PGA Tour Latinoamérica wins (2)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 Mar 12, 2017 Molino Cañuelas Championship −13 (68-70-65-72=275) 1 stroke Matias Simaski, Jared Wolfe
2 Dec 20, 2020 Puerto Plata Open −26 (65-65-63-65=258) 5 strokes Jacob Bergeron

Other wins (2)

References
  1. "Brandon Matthews". World Amateur Golf Ranking. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
  2. "Temple Men's Golf 2016" (PDF). Temple University Athletics. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
  3. "Brandon Matthews – Season". PGA Tour. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  4. "Brandon Matthews seals first win at the Cañuelas Championship". PGA Tour. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
  5. Robinson, Tom (January 20, 2018). "Brandon Matthews protecting back to help golf career". Sunday Dispatch.
  6. Stump, Scott (November 18, 2019). "Pro golfer forgives fan with Down syndrome who yelled during crucial shot". Today.com. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
  7. Harig, Bob (March 3, 2020). "Brandon Matthews earns spot in Arnold Palmer Invitational thanks to his kindness". ESPN.
  8. "2015–16 Temple University Golf Individual Results". Temple University Athletics. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.