“I’m a doctor. I understand pain.”
Any golfer can relate can to that sentiment from Dale Matthews, an internist from McLean.
But Matthews was able to parlay that pithy quote into a spot in the finals of the U.S. Open Golf Challenge. More than 73,000 hackers submitted six-word entries for a chance to play Bethpage Black, the site of this year’s U.S. Open, in a celebrity round that will be aired June 21 before NBC’s final round coverage.
“I’m an avid golfer — specifically the contest, with six words, was very attractive to me. I like words — I like the challenge,” Matthews said.
Matthews was beaten out by Larry Giebelhausen, of Scottsdale, Ariz., who won with “I’m a cop. I’ll shoot low.”
Matthews was interviewed by Golf Digest editors Bob Carney and Craig Bistro in Alexandria as part of the contest before heading to Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., to be videotaped with 10 other finalists.
Matthews said going through the cuts was “kind of like ‘American Idol.’ ”
“I got a little bit of appreciation of what politicians go through,” he said, joking that he could put people who said they voted for him into three categories: those who were telling him the truth, those who weren’t telling the truth and those who flaked out and tried to avoid him.
But Giebelhausen edged out Matthews and two other finalists to win a spot in a foursome that will feature Michael Jordan, Ben Roethlisberger and Justin Timberlake.
“It’s just so long and brutal,” Matthews said of New York’s Bethpage Black, where Tiger Woods edged out Phil Mickelson to win the U.S. Open in 2002.
Matthews thought he would shoot 92 “as long as I kept it in the fairway.”
He conceded that Jordan hit the ball farther than he does but was wild, which could hurt him on the long, narrow course played under U.S. Open rules.
But he was confident in his compatriot from Arizona.
“I think the cop will do well — he has a good temperament, and was the longest of the four of us,” Matthews said.
Now, he’s gearing up for the summer golf season — Matthews recently became old enough to play in senior amateur events, turning 55 in January.
“I was depressed for about a week,” he said. “Fifty-five is just old. It’s the new 35. I said, ‘I’m there. I’m in the 50s. It really got me.”
But then he realized he was eligible for senior golf tournaments and started thinking ahead to events this summer. At the end of May, he played in the State Senior Amateur Stroke Play, in which he shot 82-83 for a two-day total of 165.
“Last year I got my best [handicap] index of my career,” he said.
Despite his love for golf, Matthews said his true dream was to become a broadcaster for the New York Yankees. And he had an elaborate plan to parlay a contest win into a visit to the Yankees broadcast booth.
“Actually, I had it all set up,” he said. With the Golf Digest offices in New York, he anticipated an invite into the radio broadcast booth, which often features guests during the bottom of the fifth inning.
He had planned for announcer Suzyn Waldman, who played Dulcinea in “Man of La Mancha” on Broadway, to ask him what the experience had been like.
“I would have said, ‘Well you know, Suzyn, for me, this has been the impossible dream,’ ” he said.
