Matt McCarty’s maiden PGA TOUR victory at the inaugural Black Desert Championship in Ivins, Utah, summed up in one paragraph:
Arriving at the short par-4 14th hole at Black Desert Resort nursing a one-stroke lead, McCarty unsheathed a fairway metal and unleashed a bullet draw that made a beeline for the flagstick. The 297-yard tee shot was of such exceptional quality that Kevin Streelman, standing greenside to allow McCarty and playing partner Joe Highsmith to go for the green, had to mark McCarty’s ball. It was sort of in the way of Streelman’s 14-foot birdie look. McCarty’s ball ended up three feet, seven inches from the cup. Yes, he made the putt. He went on to win by three over Stephan Jaeger.
297 yards to 3 feet 😤@MattMcCarty21 sticks it on the drivable par-4 14th @BDChampionship. pic.twitter.com/ZggL7fBHmn
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 13, 2024
What a golfing assassin the baby-faced McCarty has turned into these last three months. Winning three times on the Korn Ferry Tour to gain immediate promotion to the PGA Tour wasn’t enough for the Scottsdale, Ariz., native. Nope. He had to go and win in his third career tour start and for the fourth time in his last 10 starts overall.
“I don’t know how you can kind of expect this, to be honest,” the soft-spoken left-hander said. “I don’t know. It’s just a lot of fun and I’ve been working really hard, and this year was great for me out there. To get out here a little early was just like—to get some experience was great and obviously this now. It’s just been a crazy last few months for me.”
Crazy good.
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McCarty, a product of Santa Clara University—where he won just once—was having an OK third season on the Korn Ferry Tour with three top-five finishes before setting off his own fireworks not long after the Fourth of July. He closed with a bogey-free six-under 66 to win the Price Cutter Charity Championship on July 21, and three weeks later, he captured the Pinnacle Bank Championship. Two weeks after that he hit the trifecta with his Albertsons Boise Open victory to become the 13th player to earn the three-win promotion established in 1997.
Matt McCarty putts on the 17th green during the final round of the Black Desert Championship.
Christian Petersen
The self-described “late bloomer” joins Jason Gore as the only players to win on tour in the same season that they earned their three-victory promotion.
McCarty, 26, closed with a four-under 67 for a 23-under 261 total to earn $1.35 million and exemptions into the Masters, PGA Championship and the season-opening event of 2025, The Sentry. He already had earned berths in the U.S. Open and the Players by virtue of finishing first on the Korn Ferry Tour points list. He credits speed training and a program of bulking up to gain distance for his huge leap in success after winning little more than mini-tour events before this year.
“It’s been just trying to stay patient and, like, it’s really hard to win golf tournaments,” he said of his learning curve. “Keep telling yourself that and all you can do is really put yourself in contention and see what happens. You learn a lot from those. People always say learning how to win. I think it’s like learning how to just play in contention and get yourself there more often. Winning sometimes just seems like it kind of happens, especially lately.”
Jaeger birdied the last for a 68 and solo second place while Streelman, after a birdie of his own at the par-five home hole, had a 69 to join Lucas Glover in third place at 19-under 265. Glover closed with a bogey-free 62 and moved from 70th to 61st on the FedEx Cup points list. Players who finish 51-60 on the points list earn exemptions into the first two signature events of 2025, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational.
The fourth rookie to win this year, McCarty joined Seve Ballesteros, Russell Henley and Bob Gilder to win in his third start. Only Jim Benepe and Garrick Higgo won faster, in their first and second starts, respectively.
McCarty began the final round with a two-stroke lead over four players and promptly birdied his opening hole after a 189-yard approach to four feet. But after Streelman eagled the par-five seventh to cut the lead to one shot, the proceedings turned a bit nerve-racking for the leader. He never really shook free of the field until that immaculate three-wood into the 14th green. McCarty birdied 16, three-putted 17 for bogey, and then capped the win with a two-putt birdie at the 18th. His last stroke was no more than an inch or two.
He is miles ahead of where he’d been three months ago.
His goal at the start of the week was to finish in the top 10 and earn a spot in the Shriners Hospital Open in Las Vegas that begins Thursday. Sunday night he sounded like he was hedging on whether or not he would play.
“Yeah, we’ll see. I’m going to need a break at some point,” he said.
Well, his peers could use a break from him, too.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
