Aug. 15, 2005
– By Dave Lagarde PGATOUR.com Contributor
Jason Gore, armed with three straight victories and his Battlefield Promotion to the PGA TOUR, may be the latest supernova on the Nationwide Tour. But there is another star in the Tour’s galaxy, one that seems to come out and shine brightly with uncommon regularity in 2005.
Meet Troy Matteson, so steady and timely, he could easily be mistaken for a Nationwide Tour metronome. Rare has been a 2005 event that Matteson, 25, hasn’t been a fixture on the tournament’s leaderboards.
Tick: Matteson has entered 17 events, missing only one cut.
Tick: His is ranked third on the 2005 Nationwide Tour money list behind Gore and Chris Couch, has amassed nine top-10s, including one win (his first as a professional at the Virginia Beach Open) and two seconds.
Tick: Matteson has played 67 rounds. Thirty-two have been in the 60s and just six above 73, with three of those coming in the season’s first two events.
Tick: Matteson ranks in the top 10 in 14 of the Tour’s 29 statistical categories.
And, not to mention, in only his second full season as a pro, he has already accomplished enough to guarantee graduation to the PGA TOUR in 2006.
Matteson, who earned a degree in civil engineering from Georgia Tech in 2003, attributes his success to a growing familiarity with his surroundings, solid ball striking and the invaluable lessons learned while competing as a Yellow Jacket.
“I know the courses– or at least a lot of them — this year,” said Matteson, who made 18 of 28 cuts, but had just one top-10 finish in his rookie season of 2004. “I’m going into tournaments better prepared, knowing what I need to be doing to adapt each week.”
Matteson’s improved ball striking is as much a product of an inquisitive mind as talent. He does not allow an opportunity to pass whenever he tees it up with a veteran. This year, for instance, he had picked the brains of former PGA TOUR winners Tim Simpson and Kenny Knox. Simpson, he said, has provided “help and a nudge” toward better performances, while Knox has shared secrets about bunker play and chipping.
“I bet I’ve saved between 10 and 15 shots over the course of the last five weeks,” he said of Knox’s lessons.
Then there was Matteson’s time spent in college in Atlanta, where much was asked of Georgia Tech golfers by coach Bruce Helper, who played no favorites among a talented bunch of soon-to-be-professionals like Matt Kuchar, Bryce Molder and Matt Weibring, Matteson’s roommate and son of D.A. Weibring, a PGA TOUR and Champions Tour veteran.
“We have to basically play for our lives in qualifying rounds if we wanted to play in tournaments,” Matteson said. “You had to do things very well each week and prove you could play.”
Matter of fact Matteson remembers the first qualifier held after Kuchar won the United States Amateur title in 1997. Kuchar played poorly in the first two rounds before rallying to make the travel team in the third.
“Coach would not have played the reigning U.S. Amateur champion if Matt hadn’t done it in the last round,” Matteson said. “You really had to work hard and fight during those qualifiers. That is where I learned to think and where I really learned to play.”
Apparently.
The Yellow Jackets won 19 tournaments in Matteson’s first three seasons. He was the team’s top performer in 2003 and was named a first-team All-American for the second-straight year. He also won the Player of the Year award and his 71.91 career stroke average rates fourth all-time in school history. Statistically, he finished in the top 10 in 16 of 45 events and in the top 20 in 28 college tournaments.
That’s not bad for someone who was recruited “moderately”‘ and decided on Tech after considering Texas, Virginia Tech and the service academies. Matteson has been a work in progress since his dad, Steve, bought him his first set of clubs when he was nine years old. He played religiously in his back yard for two years before his dad took him and his older brother, James, to the local municipal course — South Hill golf course — in Oakridge, Tenn.
He remembers the guy in the pro shop telling his father that kids weren’t allowed. And he remembers his father telling the guy to watch the Mattesons tee off. If he didn’t like what he saw, they would leave the course. James stripped his tee shot about 240 yards to end all discussion.
Troy Matteson is ranked third on the Nationwide Tour money list. (Hitt/WireImage) Matteson played golf and rode motorcycles until he was 14, when his father suggested he make a choice and stick to the one he selected. The studious Matteson decided on golf because he “didn’t have to worry about crashes and broken bones”‘ on the golf course. What’s more, college motorcycle riding scholarships are scarcer than holes-in-one on par 5s.
“Actually, most of the riders don’t even go to college,” said Matteson, who had his sights set on a college degree.
The key to his college success, he said, was his ability to listen closely to Helper, who knew “what it takes to win.”
“We all listened,” he said. “In most cases it worked out.”
Matteson used the golfer’s equivalent of training wheels to get acclimated to the life of a professional on the Nationwide Tour in 2004. He was consistent, but not spectacular, making enough to maintain his privileges and accomplish his No. 1 goal.
“Making the top 60 and keeping my card was a big issue for me,” said Matteson, who was 52nd on the money list. “Last year I didn’t expect to win. I wanted to have some good finishes and I accomplished that.”
Along came 2005, and Matteson was ready to break out.
“This year I wanted to play better and I wanted to win,” he said. “And my primary goal was to get my PGA TOUR card for next year. I’m well on the way.”
The initial — and only — victory came at Virginia Beach where Matteson rallied from three strokes back in the final round. It was a big step.
“That got me into the brotherhood of professional golfers,” he said. “It was important because this is just my second year out here and I think it solidifies that I’m in this peer group.”
Not only that, he’s moving into another group next year, where the quality of life and the quality of golf is much higher.
