Who is Matt McCarty? Everything you need to know about the Masters rookie in contention at Augusta
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World No.56 Matt McCarty has four wins in his last 22 starts and is well placed to break the rookie curse at Augusta National
This time last year Matt McCarty was fighting for his future on the Korn Ferry Tour. He had made one previous start on the PGA Tour and that came on his US Open debut in 2022, when he missed the cut by a shot at Brookline.
He hadn’t played in another major championship until this week at the Masters, which is probably why most bookmakers had him at odds of 400-1 to cause an upset. But after piecing together eight birdies in his last 12 holes during Friday’s second round, the 27-year-old now lies three shots back of leader Justin Rose on five under par with eyes on becoming the first rookie to win the Masters since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.
This is everything you need to know about the American left-hander who is putting himself on Keegan Bradley’s radar ahead of the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in September.
McCarty has a degree in finance and marketing
That’s what five years at college gets you, kids. He turned pro after graduating in 2021 and spent the rest of the year competing on the Forme Tour, a circuit created by the PGA Tour during the pandemic for non-Canadian PGA Tour Canada members.
He claimed his first professional victory later that year at the Wyoming State Open, with a tournament record 54-hole score of 22-under-par, before getting his hands on a Korn Ferry Tour card at Q-School. He hasn’t looked back since.
Three wins in six weeks secured his PGA Tour card
McCarty was well into his third season on the Korn Ferry Tour by the time he finally broke through on his 68th attempt with a victory at the Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper last July. He backed it up by winning two of his next five events, which earned him an automatic ‘battlefield promotion’ to the big leagues.
That was good enough to clinch top spot on the Korn Ferry Tour points list, having set a new record for the lowest single-season scoring average (68.38) with three wins and six other top 10s.
He also secured invites to this year’s Players Championship and US Open off the back of it.
He almost doubled his career earnings on just his second start as a PGA Tour member
It really does pay to play in the big leagues. McCarty pocketed a combined $630,000 from his three wins on the Korn Ferry Tour and had accrued $1.4 million across his three seasons there. A single week’s work on the PGA Tour bagged him $1.35 million thanks to a three-stroke victory at the Black Desert Championship in October.
He also became just the second person – and first since Jason Gore in 2005 – to earn a three-win promotion and win on the PGA Tour in the same season.
“Winning sometimes just seems like it kind of happens, especially lately,” McCarty said afterwards. “When it rains, it pours right now for me.”
Victory granted McCarty two extra years of PGA Tour status, along with an invitation to the Masters for the first time.
The secret weapon in his bag is a 7-wood
McCarty isn’t a big tinkerer, but he does stand out for gaming a Ping G430 7-wood, which has been in his bag for almost two years now.
“This thing’s been pretty fun,” McCarty says of his 7-wood. “ It’s helpful on long par 3s, par 5s, especially when the greens are firm. Thing’s a weapon … a little bit more versatile than like a 2- or 3-iron I think…it lands soft and you can be more aggressive with it.”
His caddie stamped ‘butter fingers’ on his 50-degree wedge
If you’re going to incur a stroke penalty for dropping your club on your ball, you probably deserve to be reminded about it for the rest of time. His caddie Devrath Das certainly thought so and got the words, ‘Butter Fingers’, printed on his 50-degree wedge in response.
Apparently, McCarty hasn’t dropped it since.
More from the Masters
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Matt McCarty is one of 20 rookies in the field at the 2025 Masters.
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McCarty won on just his second start as a PGA Tour member at the Black Desert Championship.
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