HANOVER TWP. — After the only bogey of the day on 9 along with partner Ken Ralston, Brandon Matthews looked forward to attacking the most vulnerable stretch of Wyoming Valley Country Club.
Ralston and Matthews did just that, each taking a turn in the back-to-back eagles that sparked a back nine 28 and the best Friday qualifying round score of the 2010s at The McCarthy.
With seven birdies, including four on the back nine, to go along with their two eagles, Ralston-Matthews teamed for a 10-under-par, 61 to medal qualifying at the club’s annual three-day, member-guest tournament.
The top 16 teams out of 104 proceed into four rounds of match play – two Saturday and two Sunday.
“We had a lot of fun out there,” said Matthews, a PIAA state high school champion from Pittston Area and a current player at Temple University where he holds the school record for tournament wins. “It’s kind of a thing where 10, 11 and 12 are the easiest stretch on the course and you always want to take advantage of those three holes.”
By playing those three holes in 5-under, Ralston-Matthews grabbed the top seed for the match play portion of the tournament.
Ralston-Matthews have done well together when playing as better-ball partners the past few years, but a third in the Huntsville member-guest, in a medal-play format, in 2013 is their best finish. Ralston has come close before, but is seeking his first win on the local member-guest circuit while Matthews is trying to add to the Allan Tournament title he won with Rick Laneski at Fox Hill Country Club in 2012 and the 2014 Emanon member-guest championship with his father, Ted.
Matthews has built an impressive golf resume outside the area and plans to begin a busy three-week stretch on the road Monday. The 2013 U.S. Open alternate was an NCAA Regional qualifier this spring.
“He’s a very talented player,” Ralston said. “ … I can’t help him that much, so I just try to play my game and try to complement what he has.
“You don’t need to do too much.”
Still, Ralston managed two of the team’s more dramatic shots in a finish that was five strokes ahead of the next-best score.
Matthews opened the back-nine blitz by getting up and down from a green-side bunker for a birdie on the short par-4, 10th. He then left himself a gap wedge into the par-5, 11th and put the shot within five feet for an eagle.
Ralston supplied the next eagle, holing out from 82 yards on the 532-yard, par-5, 12th.
“It was a front pin, so you can’t go past the hole,” Ralston said. “I figured I’d just get it on the front of the green and maybe it would roll up close for birdie.
“It was one of those shots that went exactly where I was looking at. My partner was about 20 feet off the green in two, so there’s no pressure swinging on that shot.”
After Matthews continued the assault with birdies at 14 and 16, he was in position below the hole on 18 with a good shot at another.
He did not need to bother.
Ralston rolled in a 20-footer from above the hole for the birdie that completed the round of 61, two shots better than any team has produced in The McCarthy during the 2010s.
The 33 Ralston-Matthews put up on the front nine was matched by four other teams in the morning half of the field and improved on by defending champions Marty Behm and Todd Vonderheid, who opened with a 32 on the way to 66 and a share of second place.
While the rest of the field needed an average of 1.33 more strokes on the back nine than the front, Ralston-Matthews separated themselves from the field with eight 3s and a 4 on the back. No other team managed better than Joe Weiscarger and John Gershey’s 32 on the back while shooting the day’s other 66.
“We just couldn’t get it rolling on the front,” Ralston said. “His eagle on 11 got us going. He hit such a great drive.”
The tournament began Friday morning after Joe Callahan, a 38-year member from Wilkes-Barre, hit the ceremonial first shot and club members made a presentation to the McCarthy family in recognition of John D. McCarthy, who died in January.
The tournament was known as the J.J. McCarthy from 1967-91 and went by the name The Classic from 1992-2013. It was renamed The McCarthy in 2014.
Twelve hours after Callahan’s shot, a twelve-some headed down the first fairway as six teams played in a playoff for the final four berths in the championship flight. Birdies on 1 allowed them to complete the field.
The first round of match play in the championship flight is set for starting times of 7:30 – 8:33 a.m. Saturday. The quarterfinals will tee off between 2 and 2:27 p.m.
There will also be competition in 22 other four-team flights.
