25 year old Brandon Matthews had to make an 8 foot putt on the final hole of the Argentine Open in order to tie Ricardo Celia and send it to extra holes. But as he was attempting the putt,, a middle aged fan, identified only as Juan, yelled and the putt lipped out. Matthews who has played golf professionally for 3 years lost has never won a tournament. Yahoo Golf reports that his career earnings are $78,013, so he desperately needs a big payday. Yet he just lost a substantial amount of money. And according to Golf Digest may have also lost his chance to play in the British Open.
Brandon was angry and he turned around and said “Come on guys, seriously?!” because he assumed the fan did it on purpose. But as he walked dejectedly back to the clubhouse a PGA tour official told him that the fan has Down syndrome and had gotten over excited. Brandon suddenly felt horrible and asked the official if he could meet him. As you see Brandon got to meet Juan, gave him a signed golf ball, a glove, and a hug.
“I felt so terrible that I was even upset. I just wanted to make sure that he didn’t feel bad about what happened. I wanted to make sure he knew that I wasn’t mad. There are some things in life that are just bigger than golf. And this was one of them.”