Golf
Favorite athlete: Joel Embiid
Favorite team: Philadelphia 76ers
Favorite memory competing in sports: Team dinners at Pancheros after matches
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Having putting matches before the actual matches started. Having good laughs with my teammates while we have putting matches.
Music on playlist: Mostly Rap, J. Cole being my favorite artist
Future plans: Attend Saint Joseph’s University while competing on their Division 1 golf team. Travel with the team, meet new people, and major in Business/Finance.
Words to live by: “It’s impossible to lose if you don’t give up.”
One goal before turning 30: Play a Professional Golf Event
One thing people don’t know about me: I love surfing, and it’s my favorite pastime besides golf
By Mary Jane Souder
Christian Matt is one cool customer on the golf course.
Coach Dan Hugenbruch still marvels when he recalls the Wissahickon senior’s amazing finish on day two of the District One 3A Tournament at Turtle Creek. Barring a miracle, Matt – who qualified for the state tournament as a junior – appeared destined to miss the cut this time around.
“That was one of the craziest golf rounds of my life,” Matt said. “Through 13 holes I was six over for the round, eight over for the event. I think the cut was four over, so I was four back.
“I was like, ‘I don’t know, I might not make states,’ but my mom was out there watching. I was like, ‘I can’t give up. This is my last chance to ever play in a state championship as a junior golfer.
“I talked to my coach a little bit on the 13th tee. He was like, ‘Keep your chin up, you’ve got holes left.’ I guess the putts started falling. I started hitting good shots, and one thing led to another, and I birdied four of the last five holes.”
The qualifying cut for the PIAA 3A State Tournament was 150. Matt shot a 148, thanks to his remarkable finish.
“I’ve coached different sports for 19 years, and back in the day coaching football with Upper Dublin, I got to be part of the staff when we beat North Penn for the District One championship,” Hugenbruch said. “So there are some phenomenal things I’ve gotten to witness, but from an individual standpoint, just seeing one kid being able to mentally engage in that situation and go after it – it was so cool to watch.”
The Trojans’ coach remembers his exchange with Matt on the 13th tee.
“I was just really trying to get him to not think about anything specific, just relax, play golf and have fun,” Hugenbruch said. “One of the other seniors in the group said, ‘This is the last round for seniors,’ and Christian was like, ‘No, it’s not.’
“He ended up birdying four of the last five holes. It was just insane to see it. I watched him tee off on 14, and he birdied that. Came down to 15, a par three and he buried that. I was able to walk across the fairway to see everything. He hit a great angle into the green. His mom was walking with him, and I was talking to him. He’s chatting with us like there’s no pressure, nothing.
“I don’t remember exactly what was said in that brief interaction, but he hits the next shot, and it looked like it was about pin high about eight feet from the pin. I didn’t get to see the putt, but then I ran into his mom and I was like, ‘Did he make it, did he make it?’ She’s like, ‘Yes, he made it.’ I know he parred 17 in three shots, which is the hole I was working. He putted to birdie 18. It was one of the coolest things I’ve seen as a coach.”
Ask Matt the key to remaining calm under pressure, and he admits it did require a change in mindset.
“I used to be immature in those settings,” he said. “One bad shot, and it would really put my mood off, but I learned you can’t let those tough shots get to you. You’ve just got to look for the next one.
“Also, before very nerveracking putts that I need to make I just think, ‘I’m lucky to be out here, it’s not that big of a deal if I miss it.’ You’ve got to be able to take the tough shots if you want to be competitive in golf.”
According to his coach, Matt is made of all the right stuff for a sport that requires mental toughness.
“I think he’s a good athlete, but his personality overall – he’s relaxed, he’s personable,” Hugenbruch said. “I’d put the younger kids with him so they could see him play just because he’s relaxed.
“You could see him hit a bad shot, and he’ll just put his club in the bag and not slam anything, not have those little knee jerk reactions that most of us do, especially in the golf world even just slamming the golf head down. He wasn’t projecting that at all, so I put the younger kids with him just so they could see how he approaches things, how he went about club selection and shots and things like that. He would talk to the kids.
“In golf, you don’t see a ton of interaction, but kids walking the fairways – they’re always chatting, having a good time. I really never got the idea that he couldn’t be with certain people or needed to be with one kid. He was more or less the person who set the tone for the whole group.”
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Matt had a golf club in his hand from his earliest recollection.
“I think the day I could walk my dad (Ken Matt) had a club in my hand,” Matt said. “He played golf his whole life, so he had me in the backyard hitting shots.
“I played a lot of junior golf up until the age of nine. I got bored with it. I didn’t really love the sport at the time, and I got into soccer because all my friends were playing then. No one was really playing golf.”
Soccer was part of the picture for perhaps three or three-and-a-half years until the summer prior to ninth grade.
“My dad brought me out to a junior league when I was 13 or 14, and I met a couple of friends that day,” Matt said. “It kept me coming back.
“I was balancing the two of them for a good six months, and then I was like, ‘I’m all into golf, I love golf, I want to play in college,’ so I just dropped soccer.”
Matt’s goal was to make varsity freshman year.
“My dad signed me up for some Philly Junior events in the summer going into ninth grade,” he said. “I got used to tournament golf, and I ended up making varsity.”
Matt advanced to districts all four years. Freshman year, he did not advance to the second day of districts. Sophomore year, he advanced to regionals. Junior and senior year he advanced to states.
This past summer Matt won a qualifier for Junior Worlds in California.
“That was a breakthrough tournament for me,” he said. “We actually ended up not going, but it was a big event, and it was a breakthrough for me.”
While the tournament was a high point, the summer had its low moments.
“I was nervous for the season because my game just wasn’t there,” he said. “But I just kept my head down and kept working at it. I got through the low point and my game got back on track, and then I had a great season.
Matt won the SOL Tournament championship this fall.
“I shot four under on the front,” he said. “It was just holding the lead for the rest of the day. Kevin Lydon was right behind me, and he was making birdies. I think it helped me because it just made me aware – I need to keep going, I can’t let up at all.”
Matt tied for 12th at districts and 18th at states.
“Golf is intricate, but it’s so different when kids are on the course because you can’t make in-game adjustments,” Hugenbruch said. “It’s just cool to see his demeanor and watch him go through those last couple of holes at districts and have that success.
“At states, he did the same thing where he had a rough start and then finished strong in the last couple of holes to put himself in the top 18. It’s just fun to see him be able to flip a switch and turn it on when he needs to.”
Winning SOLs, advancing out of districts to the state tournament – as endings go, it doesn’t get much better than that.
“No complaints,” Matt said. “I got to experience it all. Going to states was awesome, staying overnight in a hotel room with my parents who came up.
“It was just awesome. I never really had my mom (Niki Matt) at tournaments. It was just mainly my dad, and for districts and states, she got to come up. It meant the world to me.”
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Golf will be part of Matt’s future. He will continue his career at St. Joseph’s University, a late entry on the scene.
“A buddy on the team I played junior golf with - I had almost decided to go to Temple and play at Temple,” Matt said. “And he said, ‘Have you ever considered St. Joe’s?’ I was like, ‘Not at all.’ He said, ‘Come up for a visit.’
“That was after states this year. I went up that weekend, and right when I stepped on campus, I was like, ‘This is where I want to be.’ I had such a good time. I connected with the team really well. I just told the Temple coaches, ‘I’ve got to do what’s best for me,’ and I decided to go to St. Joe’s. It's going to be such a good four years. I'm so excited."
Matt plans to pursue a business major with a focus on finance.
“A kid on the team I stayed with – he’s in finance, and he said the business program and the teachers are just awesome,” he said.
According to his coach, Matt has earned the respect of those who cross his path in every setting.
“In interactions with teachers who’ve taught him, they’ll say, ‘Oh, he’s such a good kid…he’s this, he’s that,’” Hugenbruch said. “I’ve never run into a student he’s not friendly with. He’s always got a group of kids around him.
“Another thing that was phenomenal was how other coaches spoke so highly of him. They were all asking throughout his playoffs how he was doing.”
The Trojans’ coach went on to recall Wissahickon’s version of the Ryder Cup, a team tradition each year prior to playoffs.
“Christian and our other co-captain picked their teams, and of course, there were trades,” Hugenbruch said. “At the end, I said, ‘Who do you want to be paired with from your team?’
“He said – Aidan Miller who was a senior, but he hasn’t played a lot of golf, so he didn’t play a ton of varsity matches, but it turns out he and Aidan had been friends since they were five. It was just fun to see that come out. He’s playing in this competitive inter-squad Ryder Cup match, and he still wants to play with his best friend since he’s been five.”
And according to Matt, it’s the friendships that he’ll remember most about his high school golf career.
“I love golfing, I love working out with my friends," he said. "We have a good group that we all go work out together, but the best part is just hanging out with the team on the bus rides to matches and the dinners after.
“Winning Suburban Ones was awesome, especially to do it with a couple of my lifelong friends there supporting me, but the bus rides – I’ll look back and I’ll miss them.”
