Amateur cashes in on family business

A western Pennsylvania golf pro and his son bought a nine-hole golf course in rural west Georgia 23 years ago.

When Matt Nagy tees off at the U.S. Open, his father and grandfather will receive an unimaginable return on investment.

“We’ll all be smiling like anything,” said Matt’s father, Joe, who placed a golf club in Matt’s nursery when he was a baby.

Nagy, a rising junior at Kennesaw State, will be one of 16 amateurs in the 156-player field at the year’s second major, which starts Thursday at Bethpage’s Black Course in Farmingdale, N.Y.

“My friends have said it a lot to me,” said Nagy, 20. “They’re like, ‘We can’t believe it. You’re actually playing in the U.S. Open.’ “

Nagy quite literally grew up at Cedar Creek Golf and Country Club in Buena Vista, about 100 miles south of Atlanta. The fourth hole runs up to the family’s backyard.

Nagy’s father and grandfather, both named Joe, bought the course after the elder Nagy retired from a 30-year career as a PGA professional, many of the years spent working alongside his son.

“I think that’s every pro’s dream, just to get out on your own,” said Lena Nagy, the elder Joe’s husband. “He loves golf.”

As the two Nagy men hoped, the course became a playground and haven for Matt and his older brother Joey, not to mention a place of employment. They played, swam in the pool, picked up range balls, raked sand traps and mowed the greens. It wasn’t uncommon for Matt to play 36 holes in a day.

“They’re the reason I got into golf, really,” Nagy said. “They kind of let me go out there and have fun. I think that kind of helps.”

The Nagys still operate the course, which Matt’s mother, Debi, a school principal, describes as a mom-and-pop business. Nine holes cost $15 with a cart. For $24, you get two trips around the course.

Said Debi, “Maybe we’ll get some more business now.”

Nagy, who has been a hit-and-miss player for two seasons for the Owls as he worked through a swing change, has been on a tear this summer. He has finished under par in five rounds in various amateur events.

The capper came last Monday. Nagy squeaked into the field of the U.S. Open sectional qualifier at Hawks Ridge Golf Club in Ball Ground as an alternate when UGA player Brian Harman failed to make his tee time, thinking the event was a day later. Nagy had earned his alternate status after winning a seven-hole sudden-death playoff —- the last four of which were played in the dark —- in an earlier qualifying event.

At Hawks Ridge, without hitting a single ball on the driving range, Nagy shot a 71 on the first 18 and then, after a quick session on the range, unloaded a course-record 63 in the afternoon to earn one of the three Open berths. It was the lowest round of his career.

The Nagys’ phones have been sizzling ever since.

Nagy’s parents, brother and grandmother will be in the gallery in New York. His grandfather, 83, cannot attend. He suffered a stroke seven years ago and is confined to a wheelchair.

“It’s a one-in-a-million chance,” Debi Nagy said. “I know that. He knows that. But there has to be the one.”

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