Stories of The Q at Myrtle Beach: Is Matt Atkins the Favorite to Win It?

Matt Atkins:
I quickly became addicted to it. I’m a very, very competitive person. I was good at all the other sports I played. And golf…. you left the course always thinking, “Man, I could’ve done something a little better.”

For the people that I play against on a weekly basis… I picked up the game probably a lot later than most. Golf was something that my dad picked up late in life, and I think he just wanted maybe me to get started in a little earlier.

The hardest part is navigating family life, personal life, just through all the travel. It’s an expensive pursuit and you don’t make any money unless you go out, perform well and make the cut. At the end of the day, all I can do is try my best and the results are the results. But yeah, having my wife and two little girls at home is definitely something that keeps me going when things are hard.

Qualifiers are tough. When you’re used to playing a 72-hole event, even if you don’t get off to the best start, you have to navigate all those things from a mental standpoint of making sure that you’re just locked in on each shot. And even if you don’t play your best round, maybe getting some momentum into the next day when you do an 18-hole qualifier. Anything could happen.

Me, personally, I don’t do anything that I don’t think I could be the best at. It’s either get better or quit. When you’re playing against a hundred plus really good players, you know you’re not going to qualify unless you at least play pretty solid. It’s more of a mental challenge than a physical thing.

Here you’ve got 16 players for one spot. It’s still not going to be easy because there’s plenty of great players. I play with George and Wesley Bryan all the time. We were buddies before YouTube and stuff like that. Public perception’s always going to be the public perception, but these guys can play. I think the interesting thing about the qualifier is, the professional golfers are going to be more out of sorts than the creators, because it’s a completely different format than we’ve ever played. So I’m coming here knowing that the competition is stiff, but I want to win and I’m not going to look at anybody like they can’t play, because I know they can play. And it’s 18 holes so I’m going to have to go out and play great, but it’s a great opportunity and I’m ready.