Brandon Matthews
Temple’s Hole In One
If anyone can attest to the idea that golf consists of much more than swinging a club and hitting a ball, it’s senior Brandon Matthews.
Matthews describes golf as a “very mentally taxing yet addicting sport.”
Matthews grew up surrounded by sports and decided to pursue golf when he was in high school and had to decide where he wanted to go to college.
“I ended up choosing Temple because of my coach and the teammates here,” Matthews said. “I came here and started working with my coach and he has taken me a long way.”
Since joining the men’s golf team at Temple, Matthews has noticed his skills in golf improve since his freshman year.
“My mental and physical state has gotten a lot stronger as well as my consistency,” Matthews said. “All around, I think I have improved and I don’t think there is a side of me that has gotten weaker.”
In the past year, Matthews has achieved a number of accomplishments golfing at Temple. In April 2015, he was named the American Athletic Conference Men’s Golfer of the Week. He broke the school record for a season stroke with 71.0, and tied school marks for three consecutive wins and eight career wins. During summer 2015, Matthews won the 111th Open Championships for the second time.
“It’s always great to win something in Philadelphia. It’s a great competition with great people and the association that runs it is incredible,” Matthews said. “I always love playing in those events. It was a great day overall and I’m just lucky enough to come out with a win for that again.”
Although Matthews is graduating next year, he is confident that golf will be a part of his future.
“I hope to be on the PGA tour within the next three years. If I can do that, I think I’ll succeed pretty well out there — it’s just a lot of hard work and dedication, which I am pretty used to at this point.” Matthews said. “I’m really excited for what the future holds and hopefully I’ll be holding a bunch of trophies within the next couple of years.”
Written by Desiree Zimmer
Photographed by Jademan Baker
