Len Mattiace – Much More Than a Journeyman Golf Professional

As golf fans, sadly, we spend most of our time focusing on the best of the best, much like Feinstein’s golf books. That’s a shame because even journeymen pros usually have a good story to tell. Any dictionary you might use will roughly define journeyman as experienced & skilled but only competent or undistinguished. So the first thing we must remember when discussing journeymen is just how good these golfers are. For instance, to qualify for the PGA Tour, they are better than 99.9999% of all the golfers in the world. This word, then, will not satisfactorily encapsulate the career of one Len Mattiace as he once had a magical 16 month stretch of his career when his play was on par with the elite players in the game.

A top amateur as a young man, Mattiace played on the 1986 NCAA championship squad at Wake Forest University and the ‘87 Walker Cup team, even making an appearance as an amateur in the ’88 Masters. During most of the early ‘90s he kicked around in golf’s minor leagues, except for a one year stint on the PGA Tour in ’93. Mattiace finally started fulfilling his golf potential when he made it back to the big-time in 1996, apparently for good. The next 6 years of golf were basically journeyman-type stuff, playing 30 or more tournaments annually and easily retaining his PGA Tour privileges by remaining amongst the top 125 money earners on the basis of a few top 10 finishes each year. Then came 2002.

After a solid start, Mattiace raised the level of his game to unseen heights. In his 4th start of the year he captured his first PGA Tour title at Riviera. One month later came a near-miss 3rd place finish at Bay Hill when he was unable to catch Tiger Woods on Sunday. Three more months of solid golf led up to another PGA tour win, this time at the St. Jude event in Memphis. The rest of the year was also nothing but solid play, placing him 18th on the final money list.

2003 saw Mattiace get off to a good but uneven start until he reached Augusta. Having barely made the cut, he nearly won as he proceeded to shoot 69-65 on the weekend. Problem was he missed a par putt on 18 that would have won it and Mike Weir made everything in sight to catch him and force a playoff. Len Mattiace then lost the Masters on the first playoff hole to Mike Weir’s bogey. That moment seemed to suck the golfing life out of him. It ended a run of 16 months where he made over $3 million. The rest of the year was a return to pre-2002 form and ended with a skiing accident that demanded surgery to both knees. And he’s never been the same.

The appearances over the next couple of years were earned during his sterling stretch of play, but the play was not good enough and those exemptions have long since dried up. Now Len Mattiace is trying to find his game in golf’s minor leagues again, save for the occasional sponsor’s invitation to a PGA Tour event. Just don’t call him a journeyman.