Matthew Beats Hanner on Final Hole to Claim 37th MGA Players' Championship

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By Nick Hunter
nhunter@mngolf.org


  ORONO, Minn. – It was just shy of two years ago when a 20-year-old Sam Matthew nearly went wire-to-wire, shooting a 72 on the final day to win the 110th Minnesota Golf Association Amateur Championship at Medina Golf and Country Club.

Matthew, a recent graduate of the University of South Dakota, made par on the final hole Wednesday at Spring Hill Golf Club to defeat Jonathan Hanner, 1-up, to claim his first MGA Players’ Championship title.

“I tried to stick with the same game plan in hitting fairways and greens. If I kept making pars, I knew the birdies would come,” Matthew said. “I was really struggling with the ball striking. I knew it was going left, I just didn’t know how far left. I was trying to fight that and fortunately I made big putts coming down the stretch.”

“This is a totally different tournament,” Matthew said, “but it definitely helped being in that situation before and knowing how to react.”

Matthew, North Oaks Golf Club, took the initial lead during the final match with a par after Hanner made a three-putt from the front edge of the par-3 fourth hole.

Hanner answered with a birdie at the fifth to even the match as his approached flirted with the rough above the hole, but spun back on the sloped green to within three feet of the flagstick.

Matthew put his second shot at the par-5 into the rough behind the green and showcased great touch using a carom off the hill to leave himself with an eight foot birdie chance, which came to a stop inches short of the cup.

Hanner couldn’t get his 4-foot par putt to drop at the seventh hole, giving Matthew the 1-up lead again, but Matthew gave the lead right back on the ensuing hole, making bogey at the par-3 eighth.

Matthew put his approach on nine 25-feet left of the flagstick and read the green perfectly as his ball found the center of the cup, giving Matthew another 1-up lead.

Finding the sand short of the green at the tenth, Matthew punched out to four feet, but saw his lead vanish after his chance to save par grazed the right edge and stayed out of the cup, evening the match.

Hanner took advantage of a late double-bogey by Matthew at the par-4 14th to regain a 1-up lead with four holes to play, but Matthew wasn’t done despite finding the sand off the 15th tee.

From 120 yards, Matthew put his approach to 10 feet where he would two-putt for par while Hanner was unable to get up-and-down from a greenside bunker, and the match squared for the fourth time.

Both Hanner and Matthew took aggressive hacks at the par-5 16th as Matthew found the rough left of the green with his second, while Hanner’s ran to the rough beyond the green. Matthew pitched out on a slippery, downhill lie to six feet and would convert his birdie.

Hanner’s long eagle attempt came up four-feet short, but he would curl his birdie inside the right edge as the match remained tied with two to play.

Hanner two-putted for par from the right edge of the par-3 13th, while Matthew had a splendid opportunity to take a lead into the final hole and apply pressure. Matthew’s birdie chance slid left and both would make par to remain even heading to the 18th.

Matthew found the green in two on the final hole, hitting a big, swooping draw around trees on the left side of the fairway and would just need to two-putt for par as Hanner struggled to find the green.

Pitching out from the left side of the green with his fifth shot, Hanner would concede the hole and match as Matthew claimed his first MGA Players’ title.

“I just never had anything consistent today,” an obviously dejected Hanner said after the championship match Wednesday. “The swing never felt comfortable; my putter felt fine even though I had a few three-putts, but my ball striking was really hit or miss and I never could get any momentum going, tee-to-green.”

“I’m worn out—I’m mentally toast right now,” Hanner said. “This is the best I’ve ever played in a tournament like this and I’m sure in the coming days it’ll probably sit a little better, but right now it hurts. Looking back I’m sure it will help me.”

With his victory Wednesday, Matthew becomes just the eighth player to win both the MGA State Amateur Championship as well as the MGA Players’ Championship.

Matthew led South Dakota to its first Summit League Championship earlier this spring as the Coyotes finished 14th at the NCAA Regional in Bremerton, Wash. It was the first appearance for South Dakota at a regional tournament since 2003, and first as a Division I school.

Matthew first needed to get past defending Minnesota State Open champion, Trent Peterson, during the semifinals Wednesday.

Rolling in a 15-foot birdie at the par-5 third hole, Matthew took the early lead in the semifinal match against Peterson, who has finished as runner-up each of the last two seasons, and increased his lead after a Peterson bogey at the seventh.

A wayward tee shot at the par-3 eighth hole led to bogey for Matthew as Peterson cut into the deficit with a par.

Peterson would pull even after a second bogey by Matthew at the 12th, before both players drained 20-foot birdies at the par-3 13th to remain square.

Matthew navigated a long birdie putt to within inches at the 16th, tapping in for birdie while Peterson chipped past the flagstick and couldn’t get his birdie putt to fall, giving Matthew a 1-up lead late.

As both players made par on the final hole, Matthew clinched a spot in the final round against Hanner, beating Peterson, 1-up.

“The first match this morning I was definitely more nervous than I was during this last match,” Matthew said of his matchup against Peterson. “I don’t know why that was but I was more comfortable coming down the stretch, even though I was down one [against Hanner] going to 15.”

Hanner downed Blake Onkka in the other semifinal match Wednesday as Hanner used a late flurry to get past Onkka to reach the final match against Matthew.

All square at the turn, Hanner won the 10th before taking a 2-up lead with a birdie at No. 13.

A double-bogey by Onkka at the 15th increased Hanner’s lead to 3-up, and with a birdie on the par-5 16th, Hanner clinched the match to advance to the finals.