Hometown: Franklin, Tenn.
Residence: Franklin, Tenn.
Home Course: Legends Club of Tennessee, Franklin, Tenn.
College: Tennessee-Chattanooga
Interests: Sports, music
Occupation: Professional golfer and bartender
About Matt Vick:
The Golf Channel says:
Talk with Matt Vick for any length of time and it will become apparent he doesn't take himself too seriously and has a dislike for those who do. That doesn't mean, though, that he isn't fiercely intent on making a career in golf."I have an ultimate goal in mind to play on the PGA Tour," said Vick, who tends bar and lives at home to finance playing on the mini-tours and save money to enter the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament. "The master plan is only year-to-year because I don't know what's going to come first, the end of my rope or the PGA Tour."
Both his confidence and finances were infused when he won the Capitol City Invitational, a professional event in Nashville, shortly after shooting "The Big Break: Mesquite." Vick closed with a 62 to erase a five-stroke deficit and then birdied the first playoff hole to earn his first professional victory.
His career path could have just as easily been playing in the National Football League. Vick earned All-America honors at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and was named the kicker on the Mocs' All-Century team. In 2000, his senior season, he led the nation in field goals and looked to the NFL as the next step. After not being drafted, Vick tried out for several teams but didn't get invited to training camp. What he did get was advice from coaches to go to the Arena League or the now-defunct NFL Europe.
"At that point football looked no different to me than mini-tour golf," said Vick, who played golf in college for two years before quitting to focus on football. "I realized that if I played better golf, then I would get the opportunity to excel. I felt kind of slighted coming out of college."
A major reason that golf won out over football was that Vick felt the game is becoming more of a sport for athletes and characters.
"I feel like the athletic experiences carry over to any sport that you play," said Vick. "There are so many golfers where golf is all they have done in their lives. They have always played an individual sport and haven't been able to succeed at different things. When all else is equal, the athlete beats the crap out of the non-athlete."
In Vick's case, he has the athletic ability. And there is no doubt he is a character, so it seems that golf is the right sport for him.
Biography courtesy of The Golf Channel; used with permission
