Matthew Jordan
In 2017 Matthew, of Royal Liverpool, followed in the footsteps of David Horsey and made the Walker Cup team which would take on the USA at Los Angeles Country Club. During the year he had won the St Andrews Links Trophy, was runner-up at the Scottish Stroke Play Championship, secured top five finishes at the Irish Open
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Amateur Championship and the Brabazon Trophy, and finished sixth in the European Amateur Championship.
With the Walker Cup scheduled to return to Hoylake two years later, many hoped that Matt would fight for the famous trophy on his home turf, but instead he chose to turn professional before the Match.
“I started playing as soon as I could walk really,” he says. “I’d have plastic clubs that I’d use in and around the house. I joined Hoylake at the earliest possible age when I was 7, and got my handicap down to 18 when I was 9 so that’s when I was able to play in the men’s competitions. Obviously my dad was a big influence in getting me started. (Matt’s father, Andy, is a fine player who has won the Royal Liverpool Club Championship on four occasions.)
And what of his experience of the Walker Cup? “It was the best golf experience I’d had by a mile. The media, being on TV, the spectators and the format were all superb and I loved every minute of it. I learnt how good it was to play in front of cameras. It was a feeling that I will remember forever and it’s one I want to have over and over again. I experienced a U.S Open style of golf with quick greens and Bermuda rough which hopefully in the future will help me out. “Another thing I learned was that I wasn’t ready to turn pro just then. I still felt a bit loose in areas of my game in a pressurised environment and reckoned another year of experiences like the Walker Cup wouldn’t hurt me. I decided I’d know when the time was exactly right.”
Matt Won his first European Challenge Tour title in only his seventh start by triumphing in a play-off against Lorenzo Scalise at the Italian Challenge Open Eneos Motor Oil in June 2019. In 2020 he is regarded as ‘one to watch’ in his rookie year on the European Tour.