February 7, 2025 • 7 mins
Matt McLean is a man of many hats.
He’s a professional golf player, joining the PGA Tour of Australasia for the 2023-24 season, as well as picking up the role of participation coordinator for Canterbury Golf.
McLean joined Lesley Murdoch for a chat about how he juggles his many roles, in association with the Elmwood Trading Company.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And we are very grateful to the Onward Trading Company,
Marty Fuller and the team that we have got on
the line with us this morning. Matt McLain, of course,
he is a professional golfer on the Australian PGA and
he also works for Candry Golf. So how does he
manage to do all this and keep being a brilliant
athlete And we say good morning, Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Matt, Hey, how's it going? Thanks for having me?
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Very god So how do you manage to put all
this together?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah, it's a bit of a juggling act at the moment.
I'm doing Catherine Bowe, the picipasion coordinator at Canary Golf,
She's just had her first child, so I've kind of
taken over her role full time. So I'm juggling that
and playing the New Zealand events of them at the moment.
So it's a lot of last minute flights back and
(00:47):
forward Toween christ Urge and different places around New Zealand
to play pro ams, then straight home back to work.
But Canary Golf are awesome. They're really flexible with me
as long as I'm getting my work done. They're pretty
happy with me playing events they'd like to see me
doing well, which is awesome.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, well, you know when you're a gifted golf or
why not. So you're background, you're a Timory Boys high boy,
you came to Lincoln University, you're on the subob Charles
Scholarship scheme, Bachelor of Sport and Recreation Management picked up
by New Zealand Golf High Performance and then going to
work as a greenkeeper at here with Golf Club, getting
(01:21):
onto the Australasian PG eight. My goodness me. So, I
guess they're all complimentary to each other, aren't they those
jobs when you think about.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
It, Yeah, they are. They they didn't all help out
with especially what I'm doing with Kennery Golf. But yeah,
it's yeah, it's a great it's a pretty fun lifestyle.
But it's pretty pre demanding as well. Yeah, especially when
you especially when you're just playing golf, it's you know
when your next paycheck's coming. So it's definitely nice to
have a bit of a solid income at the moment.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
So what's the best thing about both jobs? What's best
about playing at Kennerby Golf or being a professional.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
The best thing about being at Kennery Golf is probably
the people I work with, Blair, Mike and Katherine, they're
they're really fun to be around. In the office, they're
really supportive of my goalf, but also when we're out
doing running our own tournaments, running our coaching programs, they're
great to be around. And then just the kids we
have in christ Church, there's so many, there's so much
(02:18):
strength in our junior programs and the kids are awesome
to actually spend a day with it tournaments, you can
have a laugh and have a bit of banter with them,
and yeah, they appreciate as well. And then yeah, with
being a professional golfer, it's awesome to travel around New
Zealand and Australia, playing tournaments, meeting new people, hanging out
with your mates. Especially when your mates are doing well
(02:40):
or you're doing well, you can kind of bounce off
each other. And yeah, there's always that rivalry, but it's
also cool to see if people be successful as well.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Absolutely well, So far, so good this year too, top
ten finishes on the New Zealand PGA Pro and Circle Circuit.
So what targets are there for you in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yes, I'm pretty happy with how the golf is going.
So fine in New Zealand. So I've only got status
to play in New Zealand currently. I didn't keep my
card in Australia. But kind of the plan is I'd
like to go back to Australasian Q School in April,
and I feel like I've got a bit of unfinished
(03:20):
business over there, so that's kind of the next step
to I'll play all the events coming up in New Zealand,
go to Ossie Q School and see how we go,
and then yeah, might look at going over Asia later
on in the year or potentially doing my New Zealand
PGA traineeship, my coaching boundaries as well. So yea, there's
a few different avenues I can go down the shed
opending on how we play and how work goes and
(03:41):
when Catherine comes back to work as well.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Absolutely, So what's the difference between playing on a New
Zealand PGA Pro and circuit and an Australian PGA Tour.
What are those two differences?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
The Aussie Tour has a lot more fore round event
and of course the persons are a little bit bigger
and getth of player is quite strong. But saying that
New Zealand Tour is a great stepping stone for guys
trying to get better and go overseas. So New Zealand
PGA they do a great job running the events. They
(04:12):
are increasing their purse perses, all the players are getting
better and it's actually really competitive. So the bridge between
the two isn't that massive. It's just probably the depth
of player In Australia. You've really got to be switched on.
You can't just be shooting around par You've got to
be shooting three four under to be really be competitive
over in Australia.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
So you can't have any weaknesses in your game, right,
I mean, you've got to be good at the short game.
You've got to have a good long hit, you know,
you've got to be good at everything.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yeah, especially know the everyone can hit it three hundred
meters and everyone's got a pretty good te degree And
it's just kind of can come down to who's the
best part of on the day. You can see the
likes of Kazuma, who won the UTO A Merit last year,
he's by far the best part of and that's kind
of why he's doing what he's doing now over on
the dp WILL Tour.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
So what's coming up next. Is it this Wednesday?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, so I was quite lucky. I got a invite
to the Race two Tike Finals up in Hamilton. So
that's kind of the Ginning Holmes Charles Tour final event.
So there's about thirty five pros and about thirty five
ameters playing for what the pros play for one hundred
thousand dollars perse one of the better persons for the
New Zealand events, and yeah, for three day event up
(05:29):
in Hamilton. So the first two days are you playing
with sponsored amateurs and then the last day is based
on your scores, playing with the leading pros and yeah,
try and find the overall winner for the year.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
I really like the fact that you're thinking ahead and
you've got some things that you want to achieve early on,
and maybe you've got if it doesn't quite pan out,
you've got something else, like your coaching badges. How old
were you when you first picked up a golf club
out of interest?
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I was probably seven or eight. But I didn't actually
like it. I didn't like the way we were kind
of just standing there heading golf balls and it was
a bit it was a bit boring. So I ended
up playing other sports throughout my life, and then kind
of when I was fifteen sixteen, I started playing Twilight
golf with my dad and my granddad down at s
and Andrews and Timmuru which is now closed. But yeah,
(06:18):
then I kind of just got better and didn't enjoy
sitting on the bench playing soccer, so I yeah, went
and played golf and thankfully got picked up in the
Sir Bob Charles Scholarship and kind of just it took
off from there. Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
It's just the interesting journeys that people take, isn't it.
In the end, it's not how early you start, it's
the quality of the technical work that you do. I guess, Yeah,
you just.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Got to work hard when you know, if you get opportunities,
take your opportunities, and yeah, it work hard and you
never know what might happen.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Well, all we can issue the best is for that
race Tatiki in Hamilton next week next Wednesday. That one
hundred thousand dollars prize pool is very alluring. So go
really well and all the very best at Cannarbary Golf
as well. I'm sure you're doing a magnificent job.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Matt McLain, Yeah, thank you, No, thank you very much
having me on. Yeah, really nice.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Keep up the good work. Fantastic story.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
He cool, Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Mat McLain out of Cannbary Golf and a myriad of
other areas. For more from us, Talk sed B, listen
live on air or online, and keep our shows with
you wherever you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio.
And we are very grateful to the Onward Trading Company,
Marty Fuller and the team that we have got on
the line with us this morning. Matt McLain, of course,
he is a professional golfer on the Australian PGA and
he also works for Candry Golf. So how does he
manage to do all this and keep being a brilliant
athlete And we say good morning, Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Matt, Hey, how's it going? Thanks for having me?
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Very god So how do you manage to put all
this together?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah, it's a bit of a juggling act at the moment.
I'm doing Catherine Bowe, the picipasion coordinator at Canary Golf,
She's just had her first child, so I've kind of
taken over her role full time. So I'm juggling that
and playing the New Zealand events of them at the moment.
So it's a lot of last minute flights back and
(00:47):
forward Toween christ Urge and different places around New Zealand
to play pro ams, then straight home back to work.
But Canary Golf are awesome. They're really flexible with me
as long as I'm getting my work done. They're pretty
happy with me playing events they'd like to see me
doing well, which is awesome.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, well, you know when you're a gifted golf or
why not. So you're background, you're a Timory Boys high boy,
you came to Lincoln University, you're on the subob Charles
Scholarship scheme, Bachelor of Sport and Recreation Management picked up
by New Zealand Golf High Performance and then going to
work as a greenkeeper at here with Golf Club, getting
(01:21):
onto the Australasian PG eight. My goodness me. So, I
guess they're all complimentary to each other, aren't they those
jobs when you think about.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
It, Yeah, they are. They they didn't all help out
with especially what I'm doing with Kennery Golf. But yeah,
it's yeah, it's a great it's a pretty fun lifestyle.
But it's pretty pre demanding as well. Yeah, especially when
you especially when you're just playing golf, it's you know
when your next paycheck's coming. So it's definitely nice to
have a bit of a solid income at the moment.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
So what's the best thing about both jobs? What's best
about playing at Kennerby Golf or being a professional.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
The best thing about being at Kennery Golf is probably
the people I work with, Blair, Mike and Katherine, they're
they're really fun to be around. In the office, they're
really supportive of my goalf, but also when we're out
doing running our own tournaments, running our coaching programs, they're
great to be around. And then just the kids we
have in christ Church, there's so many, there's so much
(02:18):
strength in our junior programs and the kids are awesome
to actually spend a day with it tournaments, you can
have a laugh and have a bit of banter with them,
and yeah, they appreciate as well. And then yeah, with
being a professional golfer, it's awesome to travel around New
Zealand and Australia, playing tournaments, meeting new people, hanging out
with your mates. Especially when your mates are doing well
(02:40):
or you're doing well, you can kind of bounce off
each other. And yeah, there's always that rivalry, but it's
also cool to see if people be successful as well.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Absolutely well, So far, so good this year too, top
ten finishes on the New Zealand PGA Pro and Circle Circuit.
So what targets are there for you in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yes, I'm pretty happy with how the golf is going.
So fine in New Zealand. So I've only got status
to play in New Zealand currently. I didn't keep my
card in Australia. But kind of the plan is I'd
like to go back to Australasian Q School in April,
and I feel like I've got a bit of unfinished
(03:20):
business over there, so that's kind of the next step
to I'll play all the events coming up in New Zealand,
go to Ossie Q School and see how we go,
and then yeah, might look at going over Asia later
on in the year or potentially doing my New Zealand
PGA traineeship, my coaching boundaries as well. So yea, there's
a few different avenues I can go down the shed
opending on how we play and how work goes and
(03:41):
when Catherine comes back to work as well.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Absolutely, So what's the difference between playing on a New
Zealand PGA Pro and circuit and an Australian PGA Tour.
What are those two differences?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
The Aussie Tour has a lot more fore round event
and of course the persons are a little bit bigger
and getth of player is quite strong. But saying that
New Zealand Tour is a great stepping stone for guys
trying to get better and go overseas. So New Zealand
PGA they do a great job running the events. They
(04:12):
are increasing their purse perses, all the players are getting
better and it's actually really competitive. So the bridge between
the two isn't that massive. It's just probably the depth
of player In Australia. You've really got to be switched on.
You can't just be shooting around par You've got to
be shooting three four under to be really be competitive
over in Australia.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
So you can't have any weaknesses in your game, right,
I mean, you've got to be good at the short game.
You've got to have a good long hit, you know,
you've got to be good at everything.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yeah, especially know the everyone can hit it three hundred
meters and everyone's got a pretty good te degree And
it's just kind of can come down to who's the
best part of on the day. You can see the
likes of Kazuma, who won the UTO A Merit last year,
he's by far the best part of and that's kind
of why he's doing what he's doing now over on
the dp WILL Tour.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
So what's coming up next. Is it this Wednesday?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, so I was quite lucky. I got a invite
to the Race two Tike Finals up in Hamilton. So
that's kind of the Ginning Holmes Charles Tour final event.
So there's about thirty five pros and about thirty five
ameters playing for what the pros play for one hundred
thousand dollars perse one of the better persons for the
New Zealand events, and yeah, for three day event up
(05:29):
in Hamilton. So the first two days are you playing
with sponsored amateurs and then the last day is based
on your scores, playing with the leading pros and yeah,
try and find the overall winner for the year.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
I really like the fact that you're thinking ahead and
you've got some things that you want to achieve early on,
and maybe you've got if it doesn't quite pan out,
you've got something else, like your coaching badges. How old
were you when you first picked up a golf club
out of interest?
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I was probably seven or eight. But I didn't actually
like it. I didn't like the way we were kind
of just standing there heading golf balls and it was
a bit it was a bit boring. So I ended
up playing other sports throughout my life, and then kind
of when I was fifteen sixteen, I started playing Twilight
golf with my dad and my granddad down at s
and Andrews and Timmuru which is now closed. But yeah,
(06:18):
then I kind of just got better and didn't enjoy
sitting on the bench playing soccer, so I yeah, went
and played golf and thankfully got picked up in the
Sir Bob Charles Scholarship and kind of just it took
off from there. Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
It's just the interesting journeys that people take, isn't it.
In the end, it's not how early you start, it's
the quality of the technical work that you do. I guess, Yeah,
you just.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Got to work hard when you know, if you get opportunities,
take your opportunities, and yeah, it work hard and you
never know what might happen.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Well, all we can issue the best is for that
race Tatiki in Hamilton next week next Wednesday. That one
hundred thousand dollars prize pool is very alluring. So go
really well and all the very best at Cannarbary Golf
as well. I'm sure you're doing a magnificent job.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Matt McLain, Yeah, thank you, No, thank you very much
having me on. Yeah, really nice.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Keep up the good work. Fantastic story.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
He cool, Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Mat McLain out of Cannbary Golf and a myriad of
other areas. For more from us, Talk sed B, listen
live on air or online, and keep our shows with
you wherever you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio.
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