Matt McCarty just keeps winning, no matter the tour.
The 26-year-old former Santa Clara University golfer and Scottsdale Desert Mountain High School alum smashed his drive within 3 feet of the hole at the drivable par-4, 14thgreen at Black Desert Resort to set up an eagle en route to posting a final-round 4-under 67 on Sunday and win the inaugural Black Desert Championship in Ivins, Utah.
“I knew if I played well this week after last week then I could maybe have a chance but to do it like this? I don’t know how you could expect this, to be honest,” he said.
McCarty won three times in a span of six events on the Korn Ferry Tour to earn a promotion to the PGA Tour and in just his second start in the big leagues, he returned to the winner’s circle with a 72-hole total of 23-under 261 and a three-shot victory over Stephan Jaeger.
“Winning sometimes just seems like it kind of happens, especially lately,” McCarty said. “When it rains it pours right now for me.”
McCarty, who opened with a bogey-free 62, grabbed the lead with a third-round 64 and entered the final round with a two-stroke advantage. All week long, the left-hander reminded himself that if he could win on the Korn Ferry Tour, why couldn’t he do the same on the PGA Tour? On Sunday, he experienced nerves just as he had during his previous trips to the winner’s circle only this time they didn’t subside; they kept building, he said. It didn’t hurt that he added a birdie right out of the gate at the first and seventh before a bogey at No. 12 cut his lead to one stroke. But the eagle at 14 gave McCarty a three-stroke cushion and he tacked on two more birdies at Nos. 16 and 18, sandwiched between a three-putt bogey at 17 and cruised to his maiden title on the PGA Tour.
He became the first player since Jason Gore in 2005 to win three times on the Korn Ferry Tour and then on the PGA Tour in the same season. It was just his third career Tour start — he had previously played in the 2022 U.S. Open — and since 1970 only five players have won as quickly (or faster).
McCarty’s triumph at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Albertsons Boise Open in August secured him that circuit’s first Three-Victory Promotion in a year since Wesley Bryan in 2016, and just the 13th player to do so in the Tour’s 34-year history. Before his first start since his promotion last week at the Sanderson Farms Championship, he said, “It’s pretty surreal to be out here now. But at the same point, it’s very exciting. I’m ready for it.”
Indeed, he is. That’s a combined four victories in his last 10 starts.
“It’s just been a crazy last few months for me,” said McCarty, who also earned a spot in The Sentry, the Masters and the PGA Championship. “This is what I’ve wanted to do. To be able to do it this quickly, to be able to play in all these tournaments I’m going to be able to play in coming up is going to be really special.”
Jaeger, who held the 36-hole lead, failed to apply much heat on McCarty but did birdie three of the final six holes to shoot 68 and finished second.
“I didn’t drive it well enough to give myself shorter clubs in and ample opportunity for birdie,” Jaeger said. “To come back and birdie the last and end up finishing second is a big one for me.”
Lucas Glover made seven birdies in his first 10 holes and signed for 62 to post 19 under and tie with Kevin Streelman (69). Glover finish T-3 for the second straight week while Streelman recorded his first top-10 finish of the season.
“If I’d have putted better the first three days I would’ve been right there,” Glover said.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Matt McCarty wins Black Desert Championship after PGA Tour promotion
