Is it good to be different? Is it OK to be the black sheep, out of step with the rest of mainstream golf? Most people would tell you no. Most teachers would have you fit into an Adam Scott mold and steer you away from anything to do with Moe Norman or Jim Furyk. Most pundits will talk about position A and how effortless Freddie and Ernie look.
If everyone was the same we would be bored out of our mind. The outliers make noise. Noise is something that Golf, up until the Tiger era was void of. Arnie was amazing, Trevino did it his way, Furyk's swing is said to look like an Octopus falling out of a tree, Bryson is Bryson and now Matthew Wolff is DIFFERENT. Being different, is as you can see, EPIC.
From the time he was a Junior Golfer everyone that Matthew Wolff went to for lessons wanted to change his swing. It can't be repeatable they said, it can't hold up to pressure they said, he'll outgrow it they told him. It is, it did and thankfully he didn't outgrow it. He grew into it, he perfected it and with the help of George Gankas he not only owned it, he thrust it down the throat of every PGA Tour player in Minnesota yesterday.
The boy whose swing was different is now the boy who conquered the PGA Tour. Notice the double use of the word "boy", Matthew just turned 20 this week. Everything Matt has done has been different.
Originally slated to attend USC, he withdrew his commitment to attend Oklahoma State University. He made the clinching putt to win the 2018 NCAA D1 Team Championship. He destroyed the NCAA world last year and won the 2019 NCAA Individual Title. Who else has won the NCAA Title and a PGA Tour event in the same season? Only the greatest putter ever Ben Crenshaw and the GOAT Tiger Woods (decent company).
Wolff battled another young gun, Morikawa and Theta-wave analyzer Bryson down the stretch. Bryson, another "different" golfer eagled 18 to go up by one. Wolff, unfazed, dropped a 25 foot eagle putt from off the green that was tracking all the way. In his mind, there was never any doubt.
He received texts the night before from assistant coaches who told him that winning at this level is no different than in college. He believed and trusted them like he has all along. He did what they said. He won. Wolff is different than most young tour pros. He has a group of people around him that just let him be him. They don't try to change him, they all work towards his greater good, within the parameters that he has set.
The noise Matthew Wolff has created is about to get louder and louder.
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