Mike Mattiace and Naples’ Sydney Shrader went out to watch a practice round at The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach last Wednesday.
That wasn’t anything new. The couple had been the past few years.
Shrader had no idea this one would be different.
“A bunch of his family was there, and my friends were there, but I didn’t think anything of it because they’re all golfers anyway,” said Shrader, a top player in Southwest Florida at St. John Neumann who carried that over to her career at the University of North Florida.
The pair — who were both ASUN all-conference and academic all-conference players — were with some friends watching the PGA Tour pros, and made their way to see the iconic 17th hole with the island green. Zach Johnson, the two-time major champion, was coming up. Johnson saw Mattiace, a nephew of former PGA Tour pro Len Mattiace, on the other side of the ropes, and started up a conversation asking if Mattiace was nicknamed “Tuna.” Johnson then invited Mattiace inside the ropes to hit a shot.
Johnson asked Mattiace if anyone was with him, and he said his girlfriend, so Johnson invited Shrader inside the ropes too. Johnson’s caddie said he had the perfect ball for the shot, passed it to Mattiace, who then opened what was actually a box, turned around and got on one knee to propose.
“I’m looking over to see what kind of ball did he give him?” Shrader said. “And I see it’s a Diamonds Direct box, and I’m like ‘That is not a golf ball.'”
Shrader said yes, and their names were on the videoboard congratulating them. The Players Championship and Golf Channel shared video of the proposal. The couple are looking at getting married sometime next year.
Mattiace, who first met Shrader in college algebra at UNF even though they were both on their respective golf teams there, had hatched the plan while having lunch with some friends while shopping for the ring.
“We started talking about it, and it just kind of took off from there,” said Mattiace, who credited Tyler Dennis, the chief of operations of the PGA Tour for helping with the videoboard and the video. Shrader happens to give lessons to Dennis’ wife and mother.
Mattiace’s UNF teammate, Cooper Smith, is the son of Johnson’s caddie, Brian, so that’s how that part happened.
“It was really special, and it all went the way I thought it was going to go,” Mattiace said. “Zach did a really good job. He really got involved.”
Mattiace’s plan did have one hiccup. He and Shrader, who have been dating four years and are both 23, got out to the course around 10 a.m., and Mattiace thought Johnson would be playing his practice round early, so the proposal would happen in a couple of hours or so. But he wasn’t, so Mattiace had to keep his mind clear while trying to figure out some ways to kill the time before Johnson arrived at No. 17.
For one of those, he took Shrader out to No. 12 and made up a reason. But he was really just trying to see where Johnson was on the course.
“We were watching Jhonattan Vegas on No. 12, but I was looking at No. 14 green to see where Zach was,” he said.
Mattiace even thought ahead, finding a way to have Shrader get her nails done.
“One of my friends had even called me over to her house a couple of days before because she was doing nails and wanted to try on someone else,” said Shrader, who is an assistant professional at Sawgrass Country Club. “She made sure that my nails looked good.”
Shrader had no idea what would end up sliding past one of them.
Southwest Florida golf:
Florida Junior Tour: Naples’ Addison Klonowski won the event Sunday at Santa Lucia River Club.
Klonowski came from behind to capture her second FJT victory at 2-over 146. She began the tournament with a 5-over 77 to sit four shots back of first-round leader Amelie Phung.
Klonowski started the final round with back-to-back birdies, and added another to make the turn at 3 under. She made another birdie to start the second nine. After a double-bogey on No. 5, her 14th hole, she birdied No. 8 and finished with a 69 to win by four.
Golf World: The end-of-season free demo days will begin Thursday with Callaway, followed by Mizuno on Friday, Tour Edge on Wednesday, March 24, a free club analysis on Thursday, March 25, a Cobra Demo Day on Friday, March 26, and a TaylorMade Demo Day on Thursday, April 1 at the Fort Myers facility. All are from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Tiburón Golf Academy: High school golfers program on Thursday afternoons from 4 to 6 p.m. Some of the time will be spent on the range and some of the time on the golf course. The drop-in rate will be $50 per session. For more information, call Tom O’Brien at 239-250-3164.
The academy also has started a pre-junior golf program for ages 3-6 on Sundays from 9 to 9:45 a.m. Call the Tiburón Golf Shop with any questions at 239-593-2201.
First Tee of Naples/Collier: The Middle School Golf season is upcoming, with applications going live on Jan. 29. Tournaments will begin the week of April 5 and go through the end of the week of May 3. All matches will be a 4:30 p.m. shotgun start. The championship tournament will be May 15-16. For more information, go to firstteenaplescollier.org.
Impact Zone Golf: Bobby Clampett and his instructional staff are available for private, group, and corporate lessons, as well as New Student Assessments at both IZG Academies, which are located in Naples at the Indoor Performance Center at 1040 Collier Center Way and in Fort Myers, at the new Academy at the Club at Renaissance at the intersection of Daniels Parkway and Interstate 75.
A Junior Spring Break Camp will be from March 16-19, with registration open at The Club at Renaissance in Fort Myers. The camp runs from 9 a.m. to noon for ages 6-17, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for ages 9-17. Contact Olivia Mesner at Omesner@impactzonegolf.com or 239-236-5536.
For juniors, Impact Zone also has introduced the new national U.S. Player Development Model for Golf, through a partnership with U.S. Kids Player Pathways, and includes an afterschool program at Renaissance.
Because of the pandemic, class sizes will be small. The program will run for four weeks at a time; you will have the flexibility to do one or two days a week ($160 for once a week, $240 for twice a week based on the 4-week class). If you miss a class, there will only be one makeup day regardless of how many classes are missed. If your junior is going to miss a class, 24 hours’ notice is requested. Classes are Wednesdays and Fridays from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
To sign up or for more information, contact Olivia at omesner@impactzonegolf.com or call/text 239-236-5536.
Durland Golf School: Durland, who is located at Naples Grande, is available for lessons from Monday through Saturday.
Golf schools are based on a 3-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio with all instruction conducted by Durland.
True Spec Golf, a club fitting company, also is located at the school.
To contact Durland, email info@durlandgolf.com or call 784-2208.
To submit an item, send an email to ghardwig@naplesnews.com.
Greg Hardwig is a sports reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. Follow him on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @NDN_Ghardwig, email him at ghardwig@naplesnews.com. Support local journalism with this special subscription offer at https://cm.naplesnews.com/specialoffer/