First published in Compleat Golfer December 2023 edition
While his closing 76 left a little to be desired, Matthew Spacey knew things were on track for what could become his best-ever season on the Sunshine Tour after that final round of the FNB Eswatini Challenge back at the end of August.
Then he came so close to pulling off a maiden Sunshine Tour when he finished second in the weather-hit South African PGA Championship at St Francis Links at the end of September. That was achieved in the face of having to play 36 holes on the final day in the face of looming bad weather. And that weather came in early in that final round, making conditions really difficult, and making his closing 73 a lot more satisfying than that Swazi 76 a month earlier.
“I would say Eswatini FNB Challenge at Nkonyeni was the performance that gave me the belief that this season would be a good one,” says Spacey. “With 62 in the first round and a solid round two it gave me a lot of confidence that I could win. Although I didn’t win it was a huge boost for me.”
That 62 was his best-ever round on the Sunshine Tour, by a staggering four shots. “That was one of those days when everything clicked. I hit every fairway and I missed only one green, so I gave myself a lot of chances. Most of my birdie putts were close to the hole. My game was just very solid all-round,” he recalls.
With three top-10s so far this season, and six other top-20s (and a worst finish of 45th) in the first 10 tournaments, he is riding a great wave. That’s a heck of a good strike rate, indicative of an imminent victory, one would think.
“It has been an awesome start to the season so far,” he allows. “And patience has been a huge part of my success. It has taken me a good few seasons to feel like I am capable of competing on the Sunshine Tour.”
He’s had to be patient, having turned professional all the way back in 2015. Although he had some solid performances on the Big Easy Tour – including a pair of victories in 2019 – it took all the way to 2022 before he was able to pull off a top-10 performance on the main Sunshine Tour. That came at Highland Gate in August last year.
“Towards the end of last season I started to see some really good things happening in my game which helped with a greater belief in myself and my game,” he says.
It’s belief that has made the difference, really. “I have not really changed much with my game and how I prepare for tournaments,” he says. “However I feel like I have become more comfortable in the pressure situations. I would say I have started to approach my tournaments with a set game plan for each course and stick with it, as well as plenty of patience and trust that good golf will come.”
So if he hasn’t changed much in his game, what, exactly, has brought about the change? “John Dickson has helped me very much over the past two seasons as he has helped me understand my swing and how it is supposed to move,” says Spacey. “I can trust my swing when it is going well and understand what I am doing when I am struggling.
“I have also been working with Catherine Tomlinson, a biokineticist who has helped me with allowing my body to move better in the golf swing and through everyday life.”
Other than those two wins on the Big Easy Tour, his runner-up finish in the South African PGA Championship was his best career-finish. Of course, it was frustrating not to win, but there were a lot of learnings that Spacey was able to take from the experience, especially because of the additional pressures provided by the tough weather conditions.
“The PGA Championship at St Francis Links was an awesome experience and to play well in such a prestigious event meant a lot for me,” he says. “With some really tough conditions, I was happy with my second-place finish because I have generally not performed too well in windy and wet weather. I loved all the pressures and emotions and was really happy to have been in contention again. I feel if I keep putting myself in contention and keep knocking on the door for a win, it will come.”
Knocking on the door is something that people who play on the Sunshine Tour better get used to. There is not a young player – or a player new to the tour – who does not remark on how tough a proving ground the tour is. There is widespread recognition that making here means you can – or should be able to – make it anywhere.
“Making a career on the Sunshine Tour is very tough because it is so competitive,” says spacey. The work that the Sunshine Tour have done in aiding us as players has given us a lot more opportunities. And it’s not only the bigger events. It’s also things like bigger prize funds for the regular lower-profile events, especially those in the quieter parts of the year. I am very privileged to be part of the Sunshine Tour.”
What made him seek out the chance to either succeed or fail on the testing circuit? “Knowing how tough it is to carve a niche for oneself in that environment, I had been playing golf my whole life but when I joined the Tuks Golf Academy with quite a successful amateur career behind me, that was when I decided that I wanted to be on the Sunshine Tour.
“I do believe winning on the Sunshine Tour will be a huge step in the right direction to bigger stages and that is is what we all play for. I would like to play abroad at some point of my career, and proving myself on the Sunshine Tour first is a big thing mentally for me at the moment,” he says.
It’s taken quite a journey to get to the point where he can think about winning. He moved up from the now-defunct developmental IGT Tour to the Sunshine Tour, but he made just six cuts that year and lost his card. It took him until after the COVID-19 disruptions for him to be able to get back to the top tier.
“It was a tough year in 2017, but the whole experience was really good,” says Spacey. “The learning curve was enormous. I realised I needed to get a lot tougher mentally to survive and that’s why I invested a lot in my mental game after that. In retrospect it was a really good thing that I lost my card. I invested a lot of time with my coaches and in particular with sport psychologist Theo Bezuidenhout on toughening up the mental side of my game.”
Now that he’s back, spending as much time as Spacey has on the Sunshine Tour can be a lonely experience, and getting through it requires putting aside the inevitable solo times that working on your game can bring up and becoming something of a social animal. “I travel with Luke Jerling, Combrinck Smit and Erhard Lambrechts,” he says, “and I feel like there is a good camaraderie between us. There is a lot of support for each other and I feel like that helps a lot with the pressures of tournament golf.”
Back home, there also needs to be a stable base that makes the highs and lows of tournaments and the travelling bearable. That base is supplied by his family, and Spacey is so aware of the importance of their support, he makes doubly sure that he gets that acknowledgement into this piece.
“My family have been a huge part of my career with supporting me whenever they can,” he says when he requests that they get appropriately credited in the feature. “They have helped me through the tough times and celebrated the good ones. I couldn’t be more grateful for everything they have done for me. Mom and Dad are Chris and Carol, and my siblings, my brothers, are Craig and Nick.
“Spacey, of course,” he adds with a laugh.
The win is the primary goal right now for Spacey. But if you want a little insight into the golfing nature – and ambitions – of a player, just ask the guy the following question: “If you were to be given the chance to play just one major championship in your life, which one would it be, and why?”
Easy for Spacey: “If I could play any major championship it would be the Open Championship because I have always enjoyed links-type of golf,” he says I” feel like the challenge that it brings every year would be an awesome experience. And because the Open Championship is also the oldest tournament in the world, it would be a privilege to play in it.”
