For Matteson, record-setting win comes with big benefits
Troy Matteson stood on the 18th green last Sunday. He had just missed a putt for par. Gone was the chance to win the PGA Tour’s Frys.com Open in regulation. Instead he was headed to a three-way playoff.
He could have been angry enough to snap that putter over his knee. And who could blame him?
Not Matteson. The Georgia Tech graduate and Atlanta resident was jumping for joy inside. For it was on that green, with a moment to reflect, that he fully realized that no matter what happened next, he was going to cash a big check.
“My thought was that I had locked up my [PGA Tour playing] card,” Matteson said last week from Mississippi, where he competed in the Viking Classic. “Oh man, it was unbelievable. It couldn’t have come at a better time. I have not been playing well. I was trying to make my card. My wife is expecting. There was a lot going on in life.”
Matteson went on to win the tournament, setting a record in the process, on the second playoff hole. He knocked his approach shot to within two feet for a birdie. That check got even bigger.
With the victory, Matteson jumped from 131st to 55th on the PGA Tour money list with a $900,000 first prize. The victory also comes with a two-year exemption on tour. It’s job security in the tenuous life of a professional golfer.
More important, the Viking Classic will be his last tournament of the season. He’ll be home for the birth of his first child, a daughter, due in November. He won’t be forced to play the remaining tournaments to earn enough money to keep his playing privileges and miss the birth of his child.
“There was a lot of pressure on me to get my card,” Matteson said. “I wanted to be [with my wife]. I didn’t want to miss it. It’s been a blessing how this worked out and given me a chance to be with my family.”
Matteson, who graduated from Tech with a civil engineering degree, also became the third PGA Tour professional who plays out of the Golf Club of Georgia to win this year. Heath Slocum won the Barclays in August, and Matt Kuchar won the Turning Stone Resort Championship in October. All three are members of the Alpharetta club and carry the logo on their golf bags.
“It’s been a good year for the club,” said Matteson, who was the 2002 NCAA champion and a three-time All-American at Tech.
Now, Matteson will be enjoying life at his Lake Lanier home while waiting for the next chapter of his life to begin.
After opening the Frys.com Open with a 2-over par 72, Matteson thought ‘Here we go again.'
"Realistically, I thought I was probably on my way back to Q-School to re-earn my job," Matteson said. “Everybody has those thoughts. We have a unique job where we have to earn it every year.”
Then Matteson got hot. Really hot. He shot back-to-back rounds of 61 on Friday and Saturday to set a PGA Tour record with lowest consecutive rounds at 122. He broke the mark of 123 set by Steve Stricker in the third and fourth rounds of the Bob Hope Classic in January.
This from the man who had never shot a round of 61. Never. Not in competition. Not in recreation. Never. He has a couple of 62s to his credit, but not lower.
“It’s really hard to follow a good round with another,” Matteson said. “It’s the best golf I’ve ever played. I’ll probably never do it again. I just kept thinking, ‘I can’t believe I’m shooting this low.’ ”
He closed with a 68, bogeying the final two holes, but won in the playoff. It was his second PGA victory. He also won the Frys.com Open in 2006 when it was played in Las Vegas.
About the Author
Chris Vivlamore is the sports editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has served as reporter and editor at the AJC since 2003.
