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Two years ago, Matthew Baldwin was a driver for Amazon. He is now in the running to win £1.1 million. Last month, he had an eight-yard drive. Here he hits him out of sight.
Whatever the 38-year-old from Southport may take away from the West Course – and given his background, the BMW PGA Championship would be a fairy tale – he has already carved out a piece of history for himself.
A 66 took Baldwin to 13 under, meaning he tied Paul McGinley’s 36-hole record in the DP World Tour’s flagship event. That scenario probably seemed impractical or fanciful when he returned to the Challenge Tour in the winter of 2022 and his dwindling finances forced him to take a job with the delivery giant. Especially when his company vehicle was heading towards a customer’s car.
“I stopped in front of a building, jumped out of the van, got in the back and all of a sudden I’m moving and it’s like ‘oh no, I forgot to put the brake on by hand,’” he said. “So I ran forward and pulled on the handbrake, I still didn’t want to stop, I pulled it some more and finally it stopped a few inches away. a blue Fiesta.
“There was a woman I was delivering a package to who watched the whole thing and she said, ‘I couldn’t get my phone out fast enough to film it.’ It’s more nervous than on a golf course.
Baldwin thinks that perspective helped. “I often thought about quitting golf,” he said. “I worked for Amazon because there was a mortgage and bills to pay, but I learned a lot from those four months. I realized there were other things I could do in life, but also that I really wanted to play golf.
Less than a year later, the grandson of rugby great Ron Ryder won his first title on the tour: the SDC Championship in South Africa. From £15 an hour to over £200,000 for 72 holes. Baldwin hoped the struggles were behind him, but there hasn’t been a single top 10 this year for the player ranked 363rd in the world. And an incident at Belfry during the British Masters three weeks ago reminded him of the malicious nature of his exasperating profession.
“I was on the fourth tee and I heard a crack at the top of my swing,” he said. “I tried to stop my swing, but the heel of the club caught the ball and it went between my legs. He went about eight meters and my caddy said “it was wise to stop before the water.” There was silence in the crowd. I think they were all in shock.
The surprise here is to see this companion with two leads over the Dane Niklas Norgaard (67) in a quality ranking, with Rory McIlroy (68) at nine under and Tommy Fleetwood (68) at seven under. Baldwin has known Fleetwood for a long time. The world number 12 is also from Southport and, when he was 13 and Baldwin 18, they played for the same county team.
“Tommy was actually my four-man partner for Lancashire,” Baldwin said. “I don’t think we’ve ever lost together. Yes, we played a lot of golf growing up, graduated from the Challenge Tour the same year and obviously played a bit here. Our paths have been slightly different but I hope I can make up for it.
“I’m incredibly proud of how I’ve played so far. I tend to get in my own way, either looking forward or looking back and dwelling on my mistakes. But with everything I’ve been through, I don’t do that anymore. Jeff Bezos should be just as proud.
