Matt Cleary

Sydney

Senior Writer - Golf Australia Magazine. Author of: A Short History of Golf; The Milk; the 75 year history of Canberra Royals RUFC

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Articles

Say her name: US Women's Open tip is in

1 week ago | golfaustralia.com.au | Matt Cleary

Who am I? As a 14-year-old amateur I won the national championship of my country. In my rookie season as a professional, I won three times on the U.S tour. By October of that year, at the age of 19, I became the second-youngest world number-one of all time. I have since won 18 tournaments around the world and earned $10 million in prize money. And I may be the greatest player you have never heard of.
Cleary: our mate Digs and a jock called Pikey

1 week ago | golfaustralia.com.au | Matt Cleary

Jockey William Pike is known, of course, in the Australian way, as “Pikey”, but also as “The Wizard” for his ability to extract maximum performance from any given steed at any given track.
Cleary: PGA's a bludger of a major, and two-time major champion can't change my mind

2 weeks ago | golfaustralia.com.au | Matt Cleary

And so endeth another United States PGA Championship, this one hosted at Quail Hollow; a long and strong Augusta National Mini-Me down to its pine straw, bubbling brooks, blinding white sand, and uniform, manicured-as-if-by-elite-squad-of-Japanese-artisans aesthetic. And, for sure, in a breeze, rough like clutching witch-fingers, pins cut in tight corners of greens of pure linoleum, it was a test of the great players in the world. And, like Augusta, it told a story.
Felix Rosenqvist To Run For Indy 500 Pole Sunday, Castroneves Qualifies 24th

2 weeks ago | sundaymanagement.com | Matt Cleary

No. 66 Spectrum Honda crew rebuilds car after practice incident Indianapolis, Ind. (17 May 2025) – Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) used nearly every single minute of the longest day of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES schedule in Saturday’s attempt to qualify all three of its cars for next Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, but despite yeoman’s work over the seven-hour session, MSR will have to return to the 2.5-mile oval tomorrow to fill its dance card.
Cleary: Rory to Repeat at Happy Hunting Hollow

3 weeks ago | golfaustralia.com.au | Matt Cleary

The TipChampion at Augusta National in the Masters Invitational. Champion at Pebble Beach in the AT&T Pro-Am. Champion in The Players at TPC Sawgrass. Around that he ran T4 in the Dubai Desert Classic; T17 in the Genesis Open; T15 in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Cleary: Lookin' at you, America. Spread the love and gift fourth major to the world

3 weeks ago | golfaustralia.com.au | Matt Cleary

Until 1958, the United States PGA Championship was a match-play tournament with a stroke-play qualifier. Ben Hogan didn’t play it that often because he didn’t like match-play. Plus, the tournament was on the same weekend as the Open Championship in Britain. How about that – they’re both major championships today; last century they were played the same day. In more recent times, in 2019, authorities moved the tourney from August to May, and thus it became the second major of the year.
When a gin-slinging journo pal of Arnold Palmer's created golf's grand slam

3 weeks ago | golfaustralia.com.au | Matt Cleary

Over gin and tonics on the jumbo jet, Palmer mused with his biographer, Bob Drum, that it was impossible for an amateur to make like Bobby Jones and win the “Grand Slam”, which until then was the Open and Amateur Championships of the USA and Great Britain. Palmer argued that no amateur could ever do it again, and that Drum should write something about it. Drum, as the chief proselytiser of the legend of “Arnold Palmer”, wrote it up thus, and created Palmer’s quotes, as he often did.
Cleary: When a gin-slinging journo pal of Arnold Palmer's created golf's grand slam

3 weeks ago | golfaustralia.com.au | Matt Cleary

Over gin and tonics on the jumbo jet, Palmer mused with his biographer, Bob Drum, that it was impossible for an amateur to make like Bobby Jones and win the “Grand Slam”, which until then was the Open and Amateur Championships of the USA and Great Britain. Palmer argued that no amateur could ever do it again, and that Drum should write something about it. Drum, as the chief proselytiser of the legend of “Arnold Palmer”, wrote it up thus, and created Palmer’s quotes, as he often did.
Cleary: PGA Championship is generic, beefed-up Tour event not befitting grand slam status

3 weeks ago | golfaustralia.com.au | Matt Cleary

Of course, the time is not up for the U.S PGA Championship. Might not ever be if the powers-that-be remain in thrall to self-interest governed by the almighty greenback, as has long been their wont. So, maybe not for a while, anyway. But its time should be up, and soon, as one of golf's four major championships.
Cleary: "Maybe more is more" - how the established tours trump LIV Golf

1 month ago | golfaustralia.com.au | Matt Cleary

It was on the balcony above the 18th green of Mt Broughton in the NSW Southern Highlands when the writer arched an eyebrow and asked the former professional player and television analyst, Ewan Porter, his thoughts on LIV Golf. Porter had earlier offered that he'd been "slapped on the wrist" and "told to keep my mouth shut" by an official within the PGA Tour after Porter had done something as innocuous as “Like” a Linkedin post that was positive about LIV Golf.