Just five tournaments into the Korn Ferry Tour season, and Matthew Anderson has rocketed up the second-tier men's golf circuit rankings.
You wouldn't be able to tell from his demeanour, however.
Anderson, from Mississauga, Ont., shot a 3-under 69 in Sunday's final round of the 118 Visa Argentina Open to tie for seventh. That propelled the 24-year-old Anderson 72 spots up the rankings to sit 49th on the Korn Ferry Tour's points list.
Although Anderson was happy to have a strong showing after missing the cut in the first three tournaments of his rookie KFT season, he was reluctant to get too excited.
"I think that finite goals or long-term goals can make you judge your season based on simply success or failure, when the real goal is more short term," said Anderson. "They're more day to day In terms of just getting better, and not necessarily something finite like a finish line, per se."
That day-by-day approach helped carry Anderson to a third-place finish on last year's PGA Tour Americas rankings with one win and six top-10 finishes to graduate to the second-tier Korn Ferry Tour.
He missed the cut at The Bahamas Golf Classic on Jan. 15, The Bahamas Great Abasco Classic on Jan. 22, and The Panama Championship on Feb. 2, but found his footing at the Astara Golf Championship where he tied for 49th on Feb. 9.
"Obviously, the goal, 100 per cent, is to make the PGA Tour this year, right?" said Anderson. "I know I can do it, and that is obviously something that I really want to do, but I can't control it.
"What I can do is focus on the process day to day, getting better, all that, y'know, somewhat cliché stuff, but it's true."
Anderson credited Adrienne Leslie-Toogood, a psychologist who works with Golf Canada's men's teams on their mental conditioning, with helping him stay grounded while playing against elite competition. He's also an avid reader of performance-based books like "Greenlights" by A-list actor Matthew McConaughey, "Win in the Dark" by Joshua Medcalf, and "Atomic Habits" by James Clear.
Leslie-Toogood said that every athlete is different in terms of what they embrace to strengthen their mental conditioning.
"A lot of times what they do off the course will really impact how much ability they have to focus and stay composed on the course," said Leslie-Toogood. "A lot of times it is finding ways to quiet your mind or do things to get your head out of the game when you're on the road.
"Some athletes love reading, some athletes love podcasts, some athletes like going to a local coffee shop. But that's all part of the experience is figuring out how you want to focus."
Sudarshan Yellamaraju, also from Mississauga, is the top-ranked Canadian on the Korn Ferry Tour after winning The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic, sitting sixth on the points list. But he's not playing in this week's Astara Chile Classic, meaning Anderson could gain ground on him.
Myles Creighton (54th) of Digby, N.S., Etienne Papineau (97th) of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., Roger Sloan (105th) of Merritt, B.C., Vancouver's Stuart Macdonald (128th) and Toronto's Sebastian Szirmak are also in the field at Prince of Wales Country Club in Santiago, Chile.
BAY HILL — Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., is the highest ranked Canadian at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, a signature event on the top men's tour in the world. Taylor is fifth in the FedEx Cup standings heading into the reduced 72-player field event at Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Club & Lodge. Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., is 29th, Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., is 35th, Adam Hadwin, also from Abbotsford, is 83rd and Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., is 127th.
PR OPEN — David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., will play in his first PGA Tour event since last year's RBC Canadian Open when he tees it up at the Puerto Rico Open on Thursday. He'll be joined by Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., and Max Sear of Markham, Ont., in the opposite field event at Grand Reserve Golf Club in Rio Grande.
DP WORLD TOUR — Aaron Cockerill of Stony Mountain, Man., is the lone Canadian competing in the Joburg Open. He moved seven spots up to 109th in the European-based tour's rankings heading into play at Houghton Golf Club in Johannesburg, South Africa.
CHAMPIONS TOUR — Calgary's Stephen Ames and Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., will tee it up on Friday at the Cologuard Classic. Ames is ranked 26th on the Schwab Cup's points list and Weir is tied for 64th.
LPGA TOUR — Hamilton's Alena Sharp and Savannah Grewal of Mississauga, Ont., are representing Canada in this week's Blue Bay LPGA. Sharp is tied for 74th on the Race to CME Globe standings heading into play at Hainan Island in Hainan, China. Grewal is tied for 103rd.
EPSON TOUR — Maddie Szeryk of London, Ont., leads the Canadian contingent into the Atlantic Beach Classic. She's ranked 62nd on the Race for the Card standings heading into play on Friday. Monet Chun of Richmond Hill, Ont., is 68th. They'll be joined by Vancouver's Leah John, Yeji Kwon of Port Coquitlam, B.C., Josee Doyon of Saint-Georges, Que., and Brooke Rivers of Brampton, Ont., at Atlantic Beach Country Club in Atlantic Beach, Fla.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 5, 2025.
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press
