You’d be forgiven if you made it all the way to the Web.com
Tour Q-School Final Stage and had just a little crisis of confidence when you
realized there are 100-plus guys who are just as good, if not a little better,
as you are and aren’t on the PGA Tour – yet.
People in Golf Association of Philadelphia circles know how
good Brandon Matthews is. He beat the best the Philadelphia area has to offer,
amateur or pro, to win the Philadelphia Open in 2013 at Waynesborough Country
Club and again in 2015 at the Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course.
Temple golf coach Brian Quinn knows how good Matthews, one of the best, if not
the best, to ever play golf for the Owls, is.
Saturday on the front nine of Whirlwind Golf Club’s Devil’s
Claw Course in Chandler, Ariz. that Brandon Matthews suddenly appeared. The
doubts of so-so season on the Web.com Tour were suddenly behind him. And maybe
the 24-year-old Pittston native proved, maybe to himself more than anybody
else, that he belongs.
Matthews had gotten it going on the front nine of Devil’s
Claw in Friday’s second round, making three birdies and an eagle in a stretch
of seven holes. It helped him fire a 7-under 65 and move into a tie for 49th.
Everybody in the field at the Final Stage has some Web.com
Tour status for 2019, but the top 40 players are exempt for the first eight
events and a top-10 finish will guarantee that you’re exempt for the first 12
events. Everybody else has conditional status and the conditions get exponentially
less favorable the higher you are on the list.
Matthews started on No. 10 at Devil’s Claw Saturday and
wasn’t doing much for a long time. He birdied the 15th hole and
bogeyed the 16th hole. He parred the first two holes on the front
nine. Did I mention how important it is to be patient when birdies and eagles
are happening all around you, when the leaderboard is a sea of red and, oh,
just your professional future is on the line?
And then it happened. Matthews eagled the par-5 third. Then
he birdied the fourth. And then he birdied the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth
to cap a breathtaking 7-under 29 on the outgoing nine that gave him a second
straight 65.
Matthews zoomed into a tie for 23rd at 15-under
201 after three rounds. Suddenly, top 40 seems doable. Suddenly, top 10 isn’t
out of the question.
I’m guessing that Matthews will finish up Sunday on the
Cattail Course, which is not yielding the kind of low numbers that Devil’s Claw
has this week. Matthews opened with a 1-under 71 at Cattail Thursday. But a
spectacular burst of 7-under golf in seven holes should give him a bit of a
confidence boost.
A couple of Penn State standouts, JD Dornes, a senior on
Manheim Township’s 2011 PIAA championship team whom I missed in my Friday post
on the Web.com Tour Q-School Final Stage, and Cole Miller, a Northwestern
Lehigh product, struggled a little Saturday.
I mentioned in Friday’s post that Miller, who led Penn State
to the NCAA Championship by winning the
individual title in the Washington Regional as a junior in 2017, had
avoided Stage One of Web-com Tour Q-School by finishing 25th on the
Mackenzie Tour – PGA Tour Canada – money list. Dornes did not have that luxury.
Dornes advanced out of Stage One on the number at Highland
Oaks in Dothan, Ala. in October. He advanced out of Stage Two at the Plantation
Preserve Golf Course & Club in Plantation, Fla., you guessed it, on the
number, last month.
Dornes reached the Web.com Tour Q-School Final Stage a year
ago, but a high finish didn’t give him much chance to actually play. Dornes
fired a 3-under 69 at Cattail Saturday and is in the group tied for 84th
at 8-under 208.
Miller struggled to a 4-over 76 at Cattail in the third
round and is tied for 132nd at 2-over 218.
The cream rose to the top at Whirlwind Saturday as Jimmy
Stanger, the Atlantic Coast Conference individual champion in 2017 at Virginia,
Norman Xiong, the winner of the Fred Haskins and Jack Nicklaus awards at Oregon
last spring, and Andy Zhang, the Southeastern Conference individual champion
last spring at Florida, are tied for the lead at 23-under 193 after three
rounds.
Stanger, quite famously, opened with an 80 in last year’s
Final Stage and rallied, but not enough to gain more than conditional status.
That’s not going to happen this year. Stanger fired a 9-under 63 at Devil’s
Claw to earn his share of the top spot.
Xiong, one of the heroes of a dominant 19-7 victory for the
U.S. over Great Britain & Ireland in the 2017 Walker Cup Match at Los
Angeles Country Club, carded an 8-under 65 at Devil’s Claw Saturday. Zhang
posted a sparkling 8-under 64 at Devil’s Claw to climb into the tie for first.
Timothy Madigan, a 30-year-old who played the Mackenzie Tour
in 2018, fired a 9-under 63 at Devil’s Claw and is alone in fourth at 22-under
194.
Michael Gellerman, the former Oklahoma standout who flirted
with 59 before settling for 60 at Devil’s Claw in Friday’s second round, came
back with a 9-under 63 at Devil’s Claw Saturday to share fifth place with
Californian Kevin Lucas at 21-under 195. Lucas fired a 7-under 65 at Devil’s
Claw Saturday.
Former Texas standout Doug Ghim, who went 4-0 in that Walker
Cup Match at L.A. Country Club a couple of weeks after a runnerup finish in the
U.S. Amateur at Riviera Country Club and who was the low amateur at the Masters
last spring – yeah, he’s good – carded a 66 at Devil’s Claw and is in the group
tied for ninth at 18-under 198.
Ghim’s teammate at Texas and on the winning 2017 U.S. Walker
Cup team, Scottie Scheffler, the low amateur in the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin
Hills, had a 4-under 68 at Devil’s Claw and is in the group tied for 14th
at 17-under 199.
A fourth member of that U.S. Walker Cup team, Braden
Thornberry, the 2017 NCAA individual champion at Mississippi, is competing as
an amateur. He said before the tournament started that if he doesn’t finish in
the top 40 and gain some exempt status, he might return to Old Miss for the
remainder of his senior season.
Thornberry fell back into a tie for 58th at
12-under 204 with a 2-under 70 at Devil’s Claw, where he had opened the
tournament with a sizzling 10-under 62 Thursday.
It doesn’t quite have the drama that the old PGA Tour
Q-School did, but the Web.com Q-School Final Stage does have what that
old-school tour qualifier had: Tons of talented players dreaming big and taking
their shot.
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