Matt joined Thorpe Hall Golf Club when he was six years old. Encouraged by his father Ian (a Thornton Cup player of some note) he was soon given a handicap of 36 and he was hooked on the game.
From this early age, young Matt could often be seen practising on the putting green or swinging a club in the nets, never mind the weather he was out there. By the time he was fourteen years old he'd won the THGC Junior open with scores of 70 and 73 gross. Not long after, at fifteen, he was playing in the Thornton Cup side and was a 5 handicap player. At seventeen he went to America on a Golf scholarship but after five months at the John A Logan Collage, he decided that it wasn't for him and returned home playing off a one handicap. Shortly after, just before his 18th birthday, he became the THGC Scratch Champion.
During all of this time Matt has regularly represented Essex through the age groups and this year has had an outstanding season bringing him to 14th place in the England listing and being selected for the England ‘A’ squad.
Now 20 yrs old, his 2009 season so far includes the following results in English County Union events,
- May: 1st Welsh Amateur Open at Ashburnham GC.
- May 6th Lagonda Trophy at Gog Magog GC.
- June: 1st Essex Amateur Open at Clacton GC.
- Aug: 5th Parman Cup at St Mellion GC.
- Sept 2nd Champion of County Champions Woodhall Spa.
- Sept: One of the Essex County side to win the English County Championship for the very first time at Chipping Sodbury GC.
As one of the best golfers ever to represent Thorpe Hall, Matt's ambition is to make the England Elite Squad of 12 and go on to represent Great Britain in the next Walker Cup.
Update 22 December 2009.
Following a very successful England camp at Woodhall Spa a couple of weeks ago, he finished with the best points tally, Matt has been selected to represent England in the first amateur event of the year.
Together with five others he has been selected to play in a Walker Cup format tournament at Costa Ballena Golf Club, Costa de la Luz, Cádiz, Spain. England will be playing three other European six man teams from Finland Spain and Germany. The course is a European PGA qualify venue designed by Jose Maria Olazabal and is used extensively by many National PGA organisations, particularly those from Scandinavean countries. The tournament which starts on 24 January 2010 will be proceeded by a four day training camp at nearby Arcos Gardens Golf & Country Club.
Update 4 February 2010
Matt Southgate finished as leading points scorer for England as they finished second in last week’s annual Costa Ballena Quadrangular Tournament title that they last won in 2006. The first international tournament of the year was played out over the Costa Ballena, Ocean Golf Club, close to Cadiz in Spain. England, Finland, Germany and Spain battled it out on the wet but beautiful Andalusian course.
The six man teams played over three days - foursomes in the mornings followed by singles in the afternoons. Matt's three out of three wins in the singles and two out of three halves in the foursomes contributed greatly to England's eventual second place.
Southgate, 21, broke onto the national scene last year, finishing runner-up to Chris Lloyd in the English County Champions Tournament at Woodhall Spa, having won his first Essex Championship at Clacton earlier in the season. The Thorpe Hall player also helped Essex to their first ever English County Championship in the finals at Chipping Sodbury last September.
Matt's results:
England v Germany. Foursomes, lost - 1 down. Singles, won - 4 & 3
England v Finland. Foursomes, halved. Singles, won - 1up.
England v Spain. Foursomes, halved. Singles, won - 1up.
Update 21 February 2010
Matthew Southgate finished 5th in last weekends Portuguese International Amateur Championship played over four rounds on the tough Aroeire 1 course at Caparica near Lisbon.
he field of over one hundred of the top European amateurs were cut to forty after round two, when Matt was laying twentieth. After a steady 72 in round three his final round of 67 was the third best of the day and he finished joint fifth with Scotland's Ross Kellett on 8 under par. They came top of the UK contingent that included other Walker Cup hopefuls.
Matt's performance will have given him further confidence to take with him when he heads out to the Mexican Amateur in March where he will represent the English Golf Union.
Update March 2010.
Matt represented the English Golf Union in the recent Mexican International Amateur Championship held at the Club de Golf Mexico, just outside Mexico City. This was his first test in a truly world wide fieldwith many of the American Universities being represented. With round of 75 – 69 – 73 – 74 he finished a very creditable 16th of 125 starters.
Update June 2010
Matthew won the 2010 St Andrews Links Trophy with a final round five under par 67 over the Old Course. The driving rain failed to deter the 21 year-old from Thorpe Hall whose 13 under par total of 275 was five better than Philip McLean from Peterhead and Stiggy Hodgson from Sunningdale who tied for second on eight under par. This was a fine victory at one of the calendars most prestigious events. It attracted some of the worlds top amateur players and has been won in the past by such luminaries as Ernie Ells and Sergio Garcia. This link will provide more details of Matt's win - http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2010/06/07/sportstory15182828t0.asp.
28th June. Matt comes 10th in the Brabazon Trophy at Hoylake. Matt shot 72, 70, 79 and 76 over the four days at Hoylake to finish in tied 10th place in the Brabazon Trophy.
30th June. The 2010 Sir Michael Bonallack Trophy. Having won this trophy in 2008 and not being able to defend in 2009 because of Open Regional Qualifying, Matt made the decision that he wanted to drive from Scotland 'through the night' having failed to qualify for this year’s Open at St. Andrews. Having less than four hours sleep was not the best preparation but Matt, playing on his home course, managed to shoot 67 which gave him a four stroke 'halfway lead'.
Starting the afternoon round from the 10th tee, Matt made sixes at the 10th and 15th to drop four strokes and effectively open the competition to the chasing pack; with three players now only one shot behind. Despite the tiredness taking its toll Matt managed to make birdies at 18 and the 4th to re-establish his advantage. This proved to be essential as his drive on the 8th found its way into the back gardens of Wyatts Drive and 'Out of Bounds'. His second drive fortunately found the fairway, the subsequent fourth shot; the middle of the green and two putts meant he only dropped one shot. A safe par up the ninth secured victory.
During his speech Matt mentioned how pleased he was that he was able to make the journey and win the trophy. Having grown up at Thorpe and regularly looking at the Honours Board dedicated to Sir Michael, it is very easy to take it for granted. This year, was the first year that Matt qualified for the matchplay stages of the Amateur Championship and he realised just how fantastic an achievement it was that Sir Michael won this title five times with three of them being in successive years (18 consecutive matches after three rounds of qualification).
He now hopes to follow in Sir Michaels' footsteps in being selected to play for his country.
5th July 2010 Matt wins The Essex Open for the second year running. This years Essex Amateur was played at The Warren Golf Club, Danbury, which is one of the few golf courses in Essex that does not have an automated watering system. This meant that whilst the green-staff had done a fantastic job during the recent dry spell on the tees and greens, the rest of the course was extremely 'fiery', and some of the extraordinary bounces tried the patience of the players.
The winner was always going to be the person that made the least mistakes and best adapted to the conditions. Having played recently at Hoylake, Matt was possibly better prepared than most. His first round of 73 could easily have been in the 60's had it not been for a frustrating morning with the putter. The afternoon round, however, was very different, with putts flying in from everywhere right from the start. He made birdies at 1, 2, 3 and 6, 7 and 8 to play the front nine in 30 shots. Unfortunately, a miss-hit tee shot at the 11th and a couple of missed putts at 13 and 15 meant the chance of the course record had gone but a 65 comfortably gave him the lowest round of the competition.
Sunday morning saw the wind much stronger and it was obvious that scoring was going to be more difficult, a morning round of 72 saw Matt one stroke off the lead held jointly by Jack Heasman (West Essex) and Steve Jones (Canons Brook). A steady start from Matt with a couple of costly errors from the leading pair saw Matt move into a three stroke lead after nine holes. He played the back nine in level par to eventually win by two strokes from Jack Heasman.
