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Saturday, December 8, 2018

Matthews makes his move in Web.com Tour Q-School Final Stage with front-nine 29


   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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