Matt McCarty picked up his first PGA Tour win at the Black Desert Championship.
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after Scottie Schefflerno one has won more in professional golf than Matt McCarty in 2024, and now his victory isn’t just exclusive to the Korn Ferry Tour.
McCarty, his year Korn Ferry Tour points leader became the first player since 2016 to win three times in a single calendar year, earning an automatic promotion to the PGA Tour. This week’s Black Desert Championship it was just his second Tour event as a member and the third of his career.
But while winning is winning, winning on the Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA Tour are two entirely different things. So it’s understandable that when McCarty, holding a two-shot lead on the back nine of the final round at the Black Desert Championship, three-putted the 12th hole to cut his lead to one, he could felt some nerves.
Two holes later, you would never have known them.
On the rolling par-4 14th, McCarty delivered the shot of the tournament, turning a 3-wood from 297 yards off the tee to just 3 feet, 7 inches. It was the closest the team had been all week on the drivable par-4, and the ensuing eagle extended his lead to three on his way to a final-round 67 to win the inaugural Black Desert Championship for his victory in first on the PGA Tour.
The “Big Tour” win caps a remarkable three-and-a-half-month run for McCarty, who picked up just his first Korn Ferry Tour win in mid-July at the Price Cutter Charity Championship. He won again three starts later and then grabbed third in Boise in the first Korn Ferry Tour Finals event, sealing his PGA Tour card and earning an immediate promotion before the end of August.
While the FedEx Cup Playoffs were being played, McCarty wrapped up the KFT season before making his first PGA Tour start last week at the Sanderson Farms Championship, where he finished T63. He is now only the second player ever, joining Jason Gore in 2005, to win in the same season after earning the Battlegrounds promotion.
Clearly one start was enough for him to make the adjustment because he came out firing Black Desert Resort this week, making seven birdies and an eagle in a 1-over 62. Then he caught fire again on Saturday – a marathon day after having to go to the course early to play the final holes of his second round – with a birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie run on his front nine as part of a 64 to give him the first in his first 54-hole career.
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He opened with a birdie on Sunday and then added another on the 7th to make the turn with a two-shot lead over Lucas Glover, who had already finished his final round at 19 after a 62 .But a costly three-putt on 12 cut that lead in half, putting McCarty in a nervous spot as he waited in the 14th game.
Stephan Jaeger and Kevin Streelman were also making a push as Jaeger reached 19 under and Streelman had a shot to join him at 14.
But then McCarty proved his metal with his tee shot on the 310-yard par-4, so close to the hole that Streelman had to mark McCarty’s putt just to hit his birdie putt.
The eagle took him to 22 under for the week, which no one could match after two more birdies and a bogey on 17 to finish, that number reached 23 under. Jaeger finished tied for second at 20 under.
Being the top player on the Korn Ferry Tour, McCarty was already in next year’s Players Championship and US Open, but this win also means he will start next season at Sentry and get a Masters invitation. He also extends his Tour membership until the end of the 2026 season.
