Matthew Wolff's PGA Tour debut ends with top-50 finish

February 3, 2019 | by AmateurGolf.com Staff

Matthew Wolff (right) and caddie George Gankas

The Oklahoma State sophomore turned plenty of heads while showing he can play at the next level

In the end, it was a good week for the Cowboys at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Tour veteran Rickie Fowler overcame a penalty-laden triple bogey at the 11th to win, and Oklahoma State sophomore Matthew Wolff made his PGA Tour debut with much fanfare and a T-50 finish.

For Wolff, it was the first time most of the world had seen a swing that’s “kind of homemade,” and now fine-tuned by instructor George Gankas. Wolff had Gankas on the bag this week. Across the country, another Gankas student, Akshay Bhatia, won the Jones Cup.

Meet Matthew Wolff: You've never seen a move like this before

Wolff came out of the gate with a head-turning 1-under 67 at TPC Scottsdale. An second-round 70 assured he would make the cut. Wolff had back-to-back rounds of 72 on the weekend.

It seems fitting that Wolff’s debut would coincide with a Fowler win. There’s certainly a connection between the two, which Wolff described this way after the opening round:

Rickie has come back to Oklahoma State probably three or four times, so I got to meet him and become friends with him. And before this week, I texted him and asked him if we could play a practice round. And I definitely got a lot of tips off him. He told me to be aggressive when you have the ability to, but these pins and the conditions are a lot harder than college golf, obviously, so he said be smart about it. Just have a good time and let loose and don't hold anything back.

Quite a day at the office for these two Cali Cowboys! #okstate #golfschool pic.twitter.com/gkgTTky39m
— Oklahoma State Golf (@OSUCowboyGolf) February 1, 2019

Wolff, last year’s Phil Mickelson Award winner as the top freshman in the nation, won at least a share of the individual title in each of three fall stroke-play starts with Oklahoma State. The Cowboys open their spring season later this week at the Amer Ari Invitational.

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