Matt Naumec '15 makes final cut at elite international junior golf event

Wilbraham & Monson Academy's Matt Naumec '15 came back from his golf trip to Florida with a nice tan.

He also came back with quite an accomplishment.

Competing against more than 200 of the top golfers in the world, Matt qualified for the championship bracket and finished tied for 36th at the Doral Publix Junior Golf Classic in Miami Dec. 20-23.

"I went down there not expecting a whole lot," Matt said. "I had three weeks of hitting a ball off a mat. But I struck the ball well, putted well and played really good golf. I played better than I expected. I was able to place the ball in fairways and greens where I wanted."

Matt shot rounds of 79 and 76 to advance with the top 63 golfers to the championship round. He fired a 77 on his final round for a three day total of 232.

"My whole goal that weekend was just to make the cut," he said. "It's such a great tournament with such great competition. To make the cut I knew I would have to play well. I achieved my goal."

The Doral tournament attracted many of the top junior golfers in the world. Eleven of the top 12 finishers were from outside of the United States.

"Everywhere I went I heard different languages: Spanish, French, German," said Matt, who placed 11th among the players from the United States. "The winner was from Germany. It was awesome to go down there and play with kids from so many different countries.

"The tournament was a great experience. It's more than a golf tournament. It creates life-long goals for you. You can see people from all the different countries and you can interact with all these different players. The courses were amazing. I was so grateful to go down and play."

More than 50 college golf coaches attended the Doral tournament.

Matt played in an invitation-only event the day before the Doral. He competed for Team New England in a Ryder Cup-style competition against Team Florida. Matt helped Team New England to the win.

"It was a great experience," said Matt, who was the youngest player on Team New England. "I was humbled to be selected to play with such talent and players. They're role models because a lot of them are going on to great schools and I look up to them. It was a great experience for me to play with those guys."