Matthew Wolff, already a PGA Tour winner before turning 21, tunes out expectations

Matthew Wolff has a chance to be a special player on Tour, his friend and fellow Oklahoma State alum Rickie Fowler says.

[jwplayer i8EnQ5WH-9JtFt04J]

On New Year’s Eve, Matthew Wolff was up with the sunrise in the Aloha State eager to tackle a new day and the coming year.

And why not?

There’s a lot to look forward to in the young man’s world, starting with spending the first week of the calendar in Maui playing in the winners-only Sentry Tournament of Champions on the Plantation Course at Kapalua.

He’s three months shy of turning 21 and already chasing the sun living out his dream of playing the game he loves for a living. Has an invite to the Masters. Just moved to Jupiter, a seaside haven on the southeast coast of Florida where a small fraternity of the best players in the world reside.

And in a year chock-full of big weeks – Tiger Woods’ title defense at the Masters, a U.S. Open in New York, the Summer Olympics in Tokyo and the Ryder Cup in Wisconsin – Wolff is on the cusp of becoming the next big thing.

Yes, which each arriving year, the golf world asks if there is a next big thing.

Most fail to live up to the label, but Wolff passes the eye test with an eye-popping, unorthodox swing that produces clubhead speed exceeding 130 mph at times.

And a check on his resume provides ample clues.

“He has a chance to be someone pretty special. Time will tell,” Rickie Fowler said.

TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS: Tee times | Fantasy rankings

Wolff has already done some pretty special things. Like Fowler, Wolff was a standout at Oklahoma State – in his two years he won the Phil Mickelson Award as the nation’s best freshman and drained the putt that gave his Cowboys the national title, then won six of 12 events the following year and won the Jack Nicklaus and Fred Haskins awards as the national player of the year.

After turning pro last June, he won his third start at the 3M Classic at TPC Twin Cities in Minnesota, firing a course-record tying 62 in the third round and holing a 26-foot eagle putt on the 72nd hole to win by one over Bryson DeChambeau and fellow rookie Collin Morikawa.

The victory put him in some heady company, as he joined Tiger Woods and Ben Crenshaw as the only players to win the NCAA individual title and a PGA Tour title in the same year. In 10 pro starts, he’s jumped more than 1,500 spots to No. 117 in the official world rankings.

Cue the expectations. But Wolff is more concerned about 3-foot downhill putts than the hype around him.

“One thing I talk to my coach (George Gankas) about is not having expectations,” Wolff said. “So many people have expectations for me, and yes, I hear them, but for me, I’m playing, and I don’t want this to sound selfish, but I’m playing for me.

“I’m doing this because I love the game, this is what I love to do, it’s what I’ve always dreamed about doing, and I don’t want anyone else to have an impact on that. So many other people have played before and have had to deal with those expectations and they haven’t dealt with it so well. They overthink to the max. It’s important to shut everything else off and believe in what you believe.”

Wolff started to believe on the range at last year’s Waste Management Phoenix Open, where he played his first PGA Tour event as an amateur.

“I was on the range hitting next to some of the best players in the world and comparing what my ball was doing to theirs, and my ball was just as good as theirs,” Wolff said. “It gave me the confidence that I could do what everyone else was doing. It reassured my wanting to go pro, not just what I saw on the range but then making the cut. I knew I could compete out here with these guys.”

That week at TPC Scottsdale he also averaged 320 yards off the tee.

While his transition into the pro ranks has been smooth, Wolff knows he has so much more to learn. How to deal with travel, how to handle courses he’s never seen before, how to make do when his game is a bit off, how to conserve energy.

But Wolff said he has a great team he trusts around him and fellow pros he can turn to, including Fowler.

“He doesn’t need a whole lot of help, but there is going to be a lot more on his plate as time goes by and time management becomes a big part of what we do out here,” Fowler said. “We’ve seen what he can do, and he just started. He’s going to have a great time out here. I’ll do my best to hold him off the rest of my career.”

[opinary poll=”whos-your-pick-to-win-the-sentry-tournam” customer=”golfweek”]

[lawrence-related id=778018270,778017813,778018037]