Hungry like the Wolff

An Acorn legend, born in Simi Valley, savors magical year



OLD TOWN ROAD REDUX—Matthew Wolff, a Westlake High graduate, helped Oklahoma State win an NCAA golf championship in 2018. Wolff, an Agoura native, won an individual college crown earlier this year before winning the 3M Open title in Minnesota as a PGA Tour rookie. He qualified for the 2020 Masters. Courtesy of Oklahoma State Athletics

OLD TOWN ROAD REDUX—Matthew Wolff, a Westlake High graduate, helped Oklahoma State win an NCAA golf championship in 2018. Wolff, an Agoura native, won an individual college crown earlier this year before winning the 3M Open title in Minnesota as a PGA Tour rookie. He qualified for the 2020 Masters. Courtesy of Oklahoma State Athletics

Matthew Wolff’s former Westlake High boys’ golf teammates all answer the question the same way.

Is anybody surprised by the 20-year-old’s meteoric rise in golf? No way.

From a fist-pumping 6-year-old to CIF State champion to collegiate national champion to 3M Open champion as a PGA rookie, Wolff continues to swing—with that same quirky hitch—his way to the top of leaderboards.

“I’m not shocked at all,” said Spencer Soosman, Wolff’s former Westlake teammate and a senior for the University of Texas men’s golf team. “What left me speechless was how everything went down.

“ It’s almost like when Tiger came out and said, ‘Hello, world.’”

Tiger Woods famously dropped that line back in 1996— before Wolff was born.

It’s 2019, and it’s Wolff’s world now.

MEDIA FRENZY

Wolff’s name dominated national headlines after his 3M Open victory on July 7 at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minn.

Acorn file photo

Acorn file photo

With the win, Wolff, an Oklahoma State product, became the third golfer in history to win an NCAA title and PGA Tour event in the same year. Woods and Ben Crenshaw also achieved the feat.

New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley, golf legend Jack Nicklaus and former TRL host Carson Daly raved about Wolff on Twitter. Wolff was mentioned on ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption,” where he was hailed as the future of golf.

“Everyone knows his name now,” said former Westlake teammate Preston Smith, a senior golfer at Colorado School of Mines.

While this level of national attention is new to Wolff, he’s not shying away from the limelight.

“I do love the attention,” Wolff said in an exclusive interview with the Acorn. “I’m not going to lie and say that I’m a low-key guy. I’m very charismatic and out there. I don’t so much care what people think of me.

“I hope to have a lot more attention because, with that, I’m guessing I’m doing something right. I’m just going to keep doing what got me here and what got me that win.”

HOMEGROWN—Top, Matthew Wolff, center, celebrates sinking a putt at Lindero Country Club as a 6-year-old first-grader at Willow Elementary School. Above, Wolff as a Westlake High freshman in May 2014. Acorn file photo

HOMEGROWN—Top, Matthew Wolff, center, celebrates sinking a putt at Lindero Country Club as a 6-year-old first-grader at Willow Elementary School. Above, Wolff as a Westlake High freshman in May 2014. Acorn file photo

Wolff’s fans, appropriately called “The Wolff Pack,” howl after his tee shots.

The internet is filled with admirers. Golfers of all ages upload videos of themselves imitating Wolff’s unique swing, which includes a quick dip of his right hip before engaging his backswing.

Professional golfer Max Homa joked on Twitter that “professional golfers are gunna be hiding in the woods practicing the Matt Wolff swing like Shooter Mc- Gavin did with Happy Gilmore.”

Wolff’s herky-jerky swing’s long been criticized, but Westlake head coach Rick Naranjo said he and assistant coach Ross Fulgentis witnessed its efficiency during Wolff’s freshman tryouts.

“We had him swing about half a dozen balls at different targets, and he bounced or hit the target within a yard or 2 yards every time,” Naranjo said. “‘Don’t change your swing,’ we told him. ‘Leave it like it is and you’ll be fine with it.’”

 

 

LOVE OF THE GAME

Digging into the Acorn archives, this newspaper chronicled Wolff playing youth basketball, baseball and soccer.

Wolff, who was born in Simi Valley and raised in Agoura, said he enjoyed playing different sports, but he had an affinity for golf.

As a 6-year-old first-grader at Willow Elementary School, Wolff putted at Lindero Country Club. In one photo, the Wolff pup anxiously watches his shot roll toward the hole. In the next frame, he’s celebrating the made putt with a tiny fist raised high in the air.

He had a similar celebration after claiming the NCAA national title, and again on the 18th green at the 3M Open.

Same fist pump. Same clutch Wolff.

Coming out of middle school, Wolff had a choice: Attend nearby Agoura High or join an already loaded squad at Westlake, which was close to the office of his father,

Follow Jonathan Andrade on Twitter @J_ Andrade_.

Follow Jonathan Andrade on Twitter @J_ Andrade_.

Bill Wolff.

Wolff chose Westlake, and in the process, he became part of the greatest boys’ golf lineup in Ventura County history.

THE DYNASTY

Soosman, who was a grade ahead of Wolff, remembers the youngster as a freshman rocking braces.

“He had a high-pitched voice,” Soosman said. “Now, he’s all grown up. He’s got a beard and everything.”

In one stretch of Wolff’s sophomore year of high school, the golfer was in the zone.

“He was in about a threeor four-month stretch where I watched him hit balls on the range, and the ball was a 1-yard drop every time,” Soosman said. “It was the best ball striking I’ve ever seen in my life, and I’ve played with Dustin Johnson, and I’ve seen Tiger (Woods) play a bunch.”

Those skills didn’t develop overnight.

“People don’t know that (Wolff) would go to the golf course and practice for six to seven hours a day,” said fellow Westlake teammate Brandon Jacobs, who is entering his senior season at UC Santa Barbara. “He really put the work in.”

Wolff helped Westlake, a team that also included USC Pac-12 Conference freshman of the year Sean Crocker, win the CIF State title in 2014. The Warriors repeated as state champions in 2015 and took second in 2016, cementing their place as Acorn country’s greatest golf dynasty.

Wolff said the confidence he gained from sinking a 15-foot putt on the 18th hole of Westlake’s 2015 championship victory still reassures him to this day.

“When I need to make a putt coming down the stretch, that’s something that I have in the back of my head, knowing that I can do it, and I’ve done it before,” Wolff said.

That confidence carried over into college, where Wolff, this year’s NCAA individual champion, helped Oklahoma State win a team national title in 2018.

“He’s continued to win on every big stage,” Smith said.

While golf ’s taken Wolff across the country, he said his time roaming Westlake Golf Course with Warrior teammates set the foundation.

“I think practicing at Westlake (Golf Course) and being around my friends made me who I am,” Wolff said.

“They’re a big reason why I’m here. There were a lot of good players that were older than me, and I wanted to be just as good as them. They pushed me.”

LIFE-CHANGING VICTORY

Wolff sank a 26-foot putt on the 18th hole of the 3M Open to finish one stroke ahead of La Cañada graduate Collin Morikawa, a longtime friend who shared countless carpools to youth tournaments.

“It’s everything I’ve dreamed of since I was a kid, since those pictures of me throwing that fist pump when I was 6 years old,” Wolff said of his first PGA win.

Wolff, who had a tentative schedule of tournaments set to start his professional career, said that victory changed his life.

“With that win, it kind of flipped everything around,” he said. “It opened up a lot of gates, which I’m really thankful for. I’m honored to play against the best in the world.”

WOLFF ON THE HUNT

Wolff moved to Jupiter, Fla., after turning pro. He misses Southern California’s golf courses, but he misses his family more than anything.

His parents, Bill and Shari, still live in Agoura. Wolff’s older brother, Eli, a recent Virginia Tech graduate, works in San Francisco.

No matter where Wolff’s golf career takes him, he’ll always have a home in Acorn country, where friends root from a distance.

“I hope he continues to keep it rolling,” Smith said. “I know his goal is probably to win every tournament he tees it up at. The way he’s playing right now, I don’t see him slowing down.”

“There’s no limit to his career,” Jacobs said. “I think he has the potential to be the best player in the world. It’s going to be incredible to see what he accomplishes in the next few decades.”