North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: Hill Wins 2009 Nicklaus Award
6/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Editor's note: CBS Sportsline's Steve Elling shared some notes and quotes from Matt Hill's weekend at The Memorial with GoPack.com's Tim Peeler.
BY TIM PEELER
DUBLIN, Ohio Capping off what might be remembered as the greatest single-season performance in the history of college golf, NC State sophomore Matt Hill won the Jack Nicklaus Award Sunday.
The award, given annually since 1988 to the best college players in NCAA Division I, II and III, was presented by Nicklaus to Hill Sunday morning prior to the final round of The Memorial, the PGA event hosted every spring by Nicklaus at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.
Hill, who became NC State’s third individual national champion of the spring in late May, claimed a two-stroke victory at the NCAA Championship at the Inverness Country Club in Toledo, Ohio. It was his eighth victory of the 2008-09 school year and his seventh win in his last eight tournaments. He also won once last year as a freshman.
Hill was recently elevated to the world’s No. 4 ranked amateur, according to The Royal and Ancient Golf Club, golf’s international governing body.
Monday, Hill tees off at 7 a.m. with PGA Tour veteran Brett Quigley in his U.S. Open Sectional tournament, a 36-hole qualifying tournament for the U.S. Open, which begin next weekend at Bethpage (Black) Golf Club in New York.
Sunday, Hill sat with the other three Nicklaus Award winners from Division II and III and NAIA, as well as Nicklaus. They each shared their stories of the greatest shots of their careers.
Hill did not mention the 215-yard 4-iron in the second round of the NCAA Championship, which allowed him to make eagle on the No. 8 hole and propelled him to the top of the leaderboard. Instead, he remembered a tournament back home in Canada in which he beat his older brother Graham, who was three holes up with three to play.
Matt made back-to-back birdies while his brother made a bogey, leaving them tied going into the final hole. Matt hit a shot to 30 feet, while Graham hit his shot to nine feet. Matt curled in the 30-footer, while Graham missed.
“That was pretty big,” Hill told Nicklaus.
Nicklaus asked if Hill if he ever remembers that shot to his brother.
“Yeah, it’s come up a couple of times,” Hill said, laughing.
To be honest, if Hill qualifies for the Open, he would have to squeeze it into an already busy summer schedule. He’s playing in two Nationwide Tour events. His win at the NCAA Tournament got him an automatic berth into the U.S. Amateur. He’s already scheduled to play in the Canadian Amateur and is almost assured an exemption into the Canadian Open. As NCAA champion, Hill has also earned an exemption into next year's Memorial, unless it conflicts with the NCAA Championships.
So Hill has no plans to come back to Raleigh anytime soon at least until his junior season begins. Despite his success against the best amateur players in the world, Hill says he intends to return to NC State for his final two years of college, to fulfill a promise he made to his parents to get his degree.
Hill won seven of his final eight tournaments this spring, including the ACC Championship, the NCAA Central Regional Championship and the NCAA Champions. He joined Tiger Woods as the only player to win those three events in the same year.
Hill has spent the weekend at The Memorial, mixing with the PGA Tour players he hopes to someday join.
On Wednesday, former Masters Champion Mike Weir, who is also from Hill’s hometown of Bright’s Grove, Ontario, called to congratulate his young neighbor. Hill has met Weir twice before, once as a 10-year-old fan and against during his freshman year at NC State during a clinic Weir hosted in California.
Hill and a handful of select Canadian amateurs were invited by Weir to the weekend event. Weir took them on a tour of the TaylorMade facility in Carlsbad, Calif., and played a few rounds with them at the LaCosta Resort.
“It was pretty cool,” Matt said. “Just for him to take the time to do that for us was really special.”
Hill obviously made an impression on Weir in their second encounter.
“The thing that struck me about him right away was that he was just real motivated,” Weir said. “You could just tell. He was willing to work hard, to do what it takes.
“Plus, my friends who know him better say he’s a great kid, has a great attitude and his head’s in the right place.”
Those were words of high praise for Hill, who grew up idolizing Weir in the same hometown, which has fewer than 4,000 residents.
“He’s been pretty much my idol growing up,” Hill said. “I met him when I was about 10 and he had first gotten on tour and he did a little clinic. Ever since then, I wanted to do exactly what he’s been doing.”
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
Previous Nicklaus Award Winners
Year Name School
1988 Bob Estes
1989 Robert Gamez
1990 Phil Mickelson
1991 Phil Mickelson
1992 Phil Mickelson
1993 David Duval
1994 Justin Leonard
Alan Bratton
1995 Stewart Cink
1996 Eldrick "Tiger" Woods
1997 Brad Elder
1998 Bryce Molder
1999 Luke Donald Northwestern University
2000 Charles Howell III
2001 Bryce Molder
2002 D.J. Trahan Clemson
2003 Hunter Mahan
Andrew McArthur Pfieffer Division II
Ryan Quinn Wisconsin-Eau Claire Division III
2004 Bill Haas
J.J. Jakovac
Trent Erb Oglethorpe Division III
2005 Ryan Moore UNLV Division I
Dane Burkhart South Carolina-Aiken Division II
Peter Weber Loras Division III
2006 Pablo Martin
Scott Brown South Carolina-Aiken Division II
Stephen Goodridge
2007 Jamie Lovemark
Jarin Todd
A.J. Vesey
2008 Kevin Chappell UCLA Division I
Jarin Todd
Scott Harris Jr.
Sam Cyr Point Loma Nazarene NAIA
2009 Matt Hill NC State Division I
Brent Witcher
Mitchell Fedorka
Sam Cyr Point Loma Nazarene NAIA
