The Case Against Matt Moroz Mounts
Nebraska PGA officials found two more balls believed to belong to the DQ’d golfer
By Ryan French
Another day and another wild development in the DQ story from the Korn Ferry Tour Q school site in Ashland, Neb. (If you aren’t up to speed on Sunday’s story and podcasts, here’s the link.)
According to Nebraska PGA officials, Matt Moroz was on their radar after two players he was paired with in the second round brought up two situations. Section officials said the players told them Moroz hit balls that appeared to go well into the woods on the 13th and 16th holes. On both occasions Moroz walked well ahead of the group, and in both cases he found the ball before anyone else in the group arrived.
On 13 Moroz said he found his ball in the rough near where it entered. And on 16 he said he found it on a cart path that runs along the wooded area. On Tuesday, Vincent Bachteler, the tournament director for the section, and Brett Renner, the digital media director, visited the two holes. The pictures and video tell the rest of the story.
- This is a picture of 13 where the ball entered.
2. This is a picture of a ball found on the 13th hole that was on the same line that Moroz’s ball was believed to have gone.
3. This is a video of Renner explaining how and where a ball was found with the same markings as the one Moroz played. It includes a closeup of the ball.
4. This is a picture of where Bachteler found a ball on 16, the hole on which Moroz said his ball stopped on the cart path (both full shot and zoomed in).
5. This is a video of Renner explaining where the ball was found on the 16th.
6. This is a picture of all three balls found from the three holes in question, including from the 7th hole in the final round. The bags are marked with the hole on which they were found.
7. Nebraska PGA section members with the machete that helped find the balls in question.
When reached for a response, Moroz said, “No comment.”
Read the full original story – A Q School DQ for the Ages
Listen to Part 1 of the podcast
Part 2
Ryan French is the creator of the twitter account @acaseofthegolf1 aka Monday Q Info. Ryan tells the stories of players chasing the top tours in the world and the dedication and sacrifice it takes to get there.
Appears to lose a lot of balls in practice.
Hope he’s sponsored by TM.
*^Needs to be banned!
LIV just signed him…
Trump just hired him for his legal team… hahahahaha……….
Gee PMC, guess if someone put child points pictures in your garage you would be guilty of child abuse. Why not wait until the true “facts” are out just as the former President is asking for.
Quiet, Ron
🤣 Take off your aluminum foil hat covering your MAGA hat bro. It isn’t just this last incident of lying that qualifies tRump as a sociopathic liar. How about the fact checked 10,000+ lies he told while being IQ45.
Ron, you don’t realize how ridiculous you sound.
Don’t you mean Biden must have taught him how to cheat, lie, and steal. And then blame the other guy.
It was impossible to read that article without immediately thinking of Trump’s entire life and how many people were willing to look away
Turn off the TV Gary.
Word is he wrote the Steele Dossier
Not to put too fine a point on it but eff this guy!
Well well well. The chickens sure came home to roost
I think they were Turkeys actually
“For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name, He writes not that you won or lost, but how you played the game!”
Complete fraud!!! DQ for life across all competitive aspects of golf should be the only answer..pro & amateur
I wonder what happens to Matt Moroz now. Because of this incident his name is all over the internet and not in a good way. Like it or not, he’s got his 15 minutes of fame. In the above interview he remains completely unrepentant. He strongly maintains he’s been wronged and that’s he’s completely innocent. The more he talks, the more the story expands. This whole situation has gotten really out of control for him. Not sure what his options are. What a train wreck for him, for Q School, and the game of golf.
At this point it’s much like Jussie Smollett, who denies any wrongdoing despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. He’ll just dig in his heels and deny cheating till his dying day. His golf career is certainly over, (and he may have dragged his caddy down with him). But if he admitted wrongdoing, he’d at least be forgiven and be able to claim redemption of some sort down the road, and maybe find success in some other arena in life.
It’s also worth noting that he that he did have some golf skills as well. His playing partners that day did see him strike the ball well, and he chipped in for a birdie on that 18th hole. Maybe with some coaching he could have improved his game to the point where he did not have to cheat.
Like the Jussie Smollett ref !
Who in the world is going to remember his caddie? What the caddie wont get another loop at a golf course. The caddie was in on it and it was designed to give the golfer plausible deniability. They are probably good buddies.
The caddie’s name is Smith, should be easy enough for him to deflect if it comes up in conversation.
I played a match with Moroz yesterday and he denied the allegations. I brought up that maybe Andy (his caddie) was cheating on his behalf. Completely Aghast, Matt responded:
“Cheating? For me? Pfft! Good lord, that’s patiently unnecessary! I’m one of the world’s finest golfers! In all the years Andy has been caddying me, I’ve never lost a…”
We grabbed an open-faced club sandwich after that and called it a day.
I’m reading this as if its a norm Macdonald bit
Did you then almost hit a clown that Tom Kite was coaching with your car?
Must of thought he was still selling timeshare at Diamonte
His caddie is also 100% complicit in the whole scheme. Way to wreck your “16 years” in golf.
His caddy seems to be getting away with this too. Both clearly horrendous cheats and liars….
I gave them the benefit of the doubt…I found it hard to believe that someone would stoop so low… but this development proves they are both horrible cheaters
He must have learned this from Patrick Reed, cheating 101…
Matt Moroz is a germ, I better not see his face at my golf club the little rat
Trying to cheat using the ball of the number 12 on it not like you see very many of those and why are those two guys that found them smiling and thumbs upping strange things going on out there
Moroz knew those balls were deep in the shit.. He definitely didn’t think machetes were getting brought out! Tremendous ball hunting!!
I can’t speak for them for sure, but they probably felt a little vindicated.
Matt and his Caddie were adamant that they did not cheat. They tried to do it as gingerly as they could, but they basically said everybody else was incompetent or wrong or a liar. Matt’s playing partners saw his shot on #5 incorrectly and it was a lot closer to the hole then they thought. The spotter on #7 clearly had the line of the shot wrong with where they put the flag because the ball was way ahead around the bend. The guys they played with the day before were wrong and were really just upset because Matt plays fast. The spotter on a different hole was wrong on a previous day and penalized another player for a ball that was only a foot in the rough. They threw everyone else they came into contact with under the bus. I suspect all the other people involved are fairly happy that the truth is coming out.
I will also say this, it’s really insidious to do it the way that they did it. Meaning, they continually try to bolster their credibility by appearing to be respectful and deferential to the other people involved. They both repeatedly say things like “Look, the spotter was doing their job and they saw what they saw…” or they talk about respecting the people involved and so forth. That’s a tactic to come across as being reasonable and fair minded people and to build their own credibility. And then they turn around and give reasons why those people are wrong. They’re doing that while being completely aware that they are lying and the people that they are throwing under the bus are telling the truth. It’s a really awful thing to do to his fellow competitors and the staff and volunteers of the tournament.
Spot on !
Sounds like they are Democrats.
Rather, sounds like trump
Yepper
Does everything have to digress to politics with you people? Pathetic
As a PGA PROFESSIONAL for the past 23+ years, I thought I’d seen most everything. This certainly is right up there in horror stories! Please ban him permanently from all competition, both Professionally and amateur. God Bless the Nebraska PGA and Korn Ferry Tour!!!
Christopher Rudi, PGA LM
Heard Matt Moroz is signing with LIV
Amazing investigative journalism here!!! It is especially commendable that Ryan gave the unfortunate player and his caddy an opportunity to present their side. Like a comment above, I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt. We all want to live in a world where a person’s word can be counted on. The “findings” Tuesday seem to put the matter to rest. It is really excellent that officials and playing partners called “foul” and “DQd” Matt. Thanks, Ryan, for holding up what should be special about golf…integrity.
Anyone who does this should be suspended for the year. No excuse. I have personally witnessed some of this on an amateur I play and when they are called on it they act like they have amesia. I have in advertently touched my ball on the fairway and told the group I was in before hitting and I take the penalty. You are on an honor system in this game it is hard enough to play this game well let alone to have someone cheat.
The fascinating story aside.. Why isn’t there a spotter/volunteer on every hole this is a qualifier to get into q, not a club championship this is like a triple a baseball game only having a home plate ump. Does it help this situation prob not but it helps alleviate some of the stress on the other players to protect the field
If I remember correctly, at least one of these holes did have a spotter who saw the ball enter the hazard, put a flag where it entered, and the guy still claimed he found it elsewhere and hit with no penalty. The spotter goes back to where he saw the ball enter and lo and behold the ball is still there…
What’s interesting about this guy, he has stated he has like 35 hole in one’s, that should be the first red flag, what is interesting every ball is marked the same way. If he plays another eve the PGA should check his bag, check his caddies pockets and see what transpires. Then kick both of there asses to the curb.
I have never cheated in my life and I mark every ball the same way….that is what people do to identify their bales …consistency….as do most of the guys I play with….I can’t accept your argument he does it to cheat….
In following up my statement my provisional ball if required is always a different number to ball in play
I mark my ball the same as well, unless I have a box of the same numbers and that is all I have. Then I will add dots to the balls (1,2,or 3) or use a different color marker to make them different. Here it looks like he writes 11, 12 or 13 in purple marker.
I mark one ball that I might use as a “provisional” (if ever needed) differently from my other tournament balls, so I know which one is the provi if and when I hopefully find one or both of them. I couldn’t live with myself if I pulled this kind of crap Moroz did, but some people obviously can in all walks of life and just live in total denial when presented with the facts.
So how can you tell which ball is which if you have to hit a provisional ball if you mark them all the exact same way?
Yeah they should get a search warrant to be able to go through all of their belongings. Haha
How many people do you think give up their time for an event like this?
This should not be any negative about the game we all love and respect.
However, another black mark about the society we are becoming which we are all apart of whether we play the great game of golf or not!
In the scheme of society this doesnt even register as a blip. Cheating in golf even at the pro level happens more than people think. Not sure why people are shocked.
The question I would have asked the caddie. When you went to get your phone on 7 did you turn around and lose sight of Matt near the hole?
Exactly!! I wanted to hear a question like this !
He might be perfect for Club Pro Guy’s Tuesday Night League
He would be perfect for LIV golf, they have Patrick Read who has been known to pull the wool!
What about the ball under the leaves right behind the found ball?
Any chance you can track down the guys he played with the round before who made the initial complaints? Would be awesome to hear their versions of what happened that day as well.
All the excuses/explanations are kind of impressive when you put them all together:
– maybe it hit a turkey
– it had to hit the cart path to end up where it did
– What do you want me to do, I just played my ball
– I don’t carry my player’s balls in my pocket
– I have a 16 year career in golf
– I’ve never been accused of cheating once before
– I wouldn’t even cheat for a member at the private club I caddie at
– I hit over there yesterday
– I hit over there in my practice round
– That’s not my ball
– Maybe that is my ball, but not from this round
– I mark my balls with an 11, 12, or 13
– Matt wasn’t using balls with faded markings like that
– The other players saw it wrong
– The ball was sort of skipping because the rough was wet
– I hit a 9 iron
– He hit an 8 or a 9
– The other guys were standing right there when we took the video
– The other guys were on the green when he took the ball out
– I don’t know why the other guys did not see any of that
– The rough sloped down towards the green
Think that’s pretty close to all of them.
I love the deal where he says he looked down and thought it was a 9-iron because he can tell what club it is by the loft, but Andy later said it was an 8 so it must have been an 8. If you have been playing golf as much and as long as Moroz says he has, you can tell an 8 from a 9, But still, he just took a club from the caddie and didn’t know what it really was? He just hits what’s handed to him, he didn’t say, “give me the 9.” This is all just stupid. It’s amazing there can be sociopathic liars like this, but unfortunately there are.
I know a certain ex-chief executive that Matt would fit right in playing with.
Best true crime podcast I’ve listened to in years!
Great reporting on this story! The main question I was begging for you to ask to Matt’s caddie, which never came, was if he thought Matt was capable of cheating on 5 and 7 alone. Both scenarios seemingly had opportunities for Matt to go rogue and blatantly cheat. That seems like a likely scenario, but would also be pretty brazen on Matt’s part. Thanks for all your work on this story.
I agree on the great reporting. I think Matt’s caddie had already implicated himself with the story on #7 because he says that he’s the one that found the ball around the “bend.” The caddie’s story doesn’t put Matt in that area when he the caddie ‘finds’ the ball.
Thanks Kevin, I misunderstood that originally in the story but now understand it was the caddie who found it on 7. Add that to their hole 5 story, It appears to me both were complicit.
I had to go re-listen to make sure I wasn’t misremembering as well. I agree, I don’t see how there is a reasonable explanation for them to find so many of his balls right on the line with where his playing partners and the spotters said they should be on holes where he ended up playing “his ball” from a much better position 20 yards away.
Playing a bit of devil’s advocate. Matt (different Matt. Not me.) could have just tossed the ball into the location when the caddie wasn’t looking. Thus the caddie did find it there but the ball was not hit there, it was tossed there by a cheater.
And maybe they hit a turkey on #5 and that’s what caused the Eagle there.
A lot of things are technically possible, but given the context of all these situations, the probability that they weren’t both in on it is pretty small.
Every ball you bring to a competitive round should be marked differently. Every serious competitor, pro or amateur, knows this. That he came to the first tee with a bunch of balls marked precisely the same way (and sloppily, I might add) is real bush league. It potentially sets up all kinds of issues. If you hit your first ball into a difficult area, the provisional MUST be marked differently, and it’s proper that you explain the distinction to your fellows before you hit. I don’t see where this principle came into play literally, but his plays balls marked the same way signals either shadiness or extreme ignorance.
this is the most accurate comment, the distinction can be so minimal, but there needs to be a slight distinction. if you had balls marked the exact same way and needed to hit a provisional, you can make a put a unique mark on the second ball and announce it prior to re-teeing correct? This is a round to round issue i get it, but this is qualifying for Q. not club championship. bizarre
I think that is why he writes 11,12 or 13 on them in purple. Now how he uses them is up to anybody’s guess.
I think you and D are a little confused. Most people will mark their balls the same every time, that is how they know it is theirs. Literally, no one would show up to a tournament with every ball marked differently. I think most people have different numbered balls since that’s how they come in a box, but normally everyone marks it the same every time. If anything, they might use different colors, but again generally the same marking. The only reason it would be different is if they were hitting a provisional, in which case they would have to announce the difference in marking or number or whatever makes it different than the first one like you both mentioned. I don’t remember the article ever mentioning him hitting a provisional, so there’s no reason why he would be hitting a ball marked differently.
Either way, the whole thing is super fishy and doesn’t look good for him. It seems like such an absurd thing to come up but maybe in multi-round tournaments, everyone should use a different numbered ball each round, and if they have to hit a provisional, use a different color to mark it than the original.
Yeah I mark mine the same. I play different numbered balls. Another point in this…I have back issues. When my back is hurting….I’m not walking in front of my playing partners. I’m usually trying to catch up. This guy had a spasm so bad that he almost couldn’t finish and he was sprinting out in front of his group the entire tourney?
Most guys mark all their balls the same. The numbers put on the balls by the manufacturer should be different. If all the balls were mark different guys would forget what markings are on the balls. More problems arise if the markings are different and you cant identify every little detail on that ball. No matter what,the situation handled itself. The measures in place were successful and worked like they were supposed to.
Imagine how many times over the course of his career he must have done this and not been called on it.
Anything can be true but there is no way that this level of brazenness would have or could have gone unnoticed during a 16 year career. Obviously the guy can play golf but the harsh reality of realizing your just not good enough to make it is probably enough to make a guy who probably excelled at every other playing level that he participated in to expose his true colors.Cheating at the professional level happens more than people think but this level of audacity is next level.
Ironically Golf Digest did a piece on Moroz in 2017 in which there are no questions to the validity of Moroz’s hole in one’s. (At that time he had 17 with 3 being on par 4’s). This whole thing is bizarre at best.
The link to the GD article below and a quote from the article.
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/aspiring-tour-pro-pulls-off-one-of-the-craziest-hole-in-one-feats-weve-ever-heard-about
Excerpt from GD article, October 25, 2017
John Jester, who was playing with Moroz when he made the first and third ace of this amazing stretch, was excited to be a part of it, and elated for his friend.
“It couldn’t have happened to a better guy,” Jester said. “I’ve known Matt a long time and know how passionate he is about the game. He’s put a lot of hours into working on his game, and now he’s seeing the results of his hard work.”
The most interesting part of the article to me is this:
“And finally, an ace on the 329-yard Par-4 1st at Bensalem Township Country Club on Sept. 27. Moroz said his group actually played the front nine first that day and he went into the pro shop to thank one of the pros for letting him play. With news of his previous aces having preceded him, Moroz was asked, ‘Any holes-in-one today?’ Moroz laughed and said no, but moments later, after hitting his tee shot over the trees of the dogleg right, he threw his Twisted Tea in the air in celebration as he discovered yet another one of his golf balls at the bottom of the cup. Incredible.”
I wonder how many of his claimed miraculous shots, hole in ones or otherwise, were blind? That seems to the common thread of all these instances.
The above references a hole in one on a par 4 with a drive over trees and he “discovered” his ball in the hole. Certainly suggests a blind hole and nobody could see the ball go in.
Hole 5 was a blind approach where he “discovered” his ball in the hole. Nobody could see the ball go in.
The author said in the original piece he talked with three people who were present during some of his holes in one. All were blind shots and nobody could see the ball go in the hole.
Guy claims an absurd amount of hole in ones. I wonder how many other people actually witnessed the entire ball flight, landing, hop, roll, etc. on any of them.
Man this is all hard to read for me. I played with Matt for years through HS and after. We worked at the same course. I never knew him to be like this, but maybe we all just never noticed. Just sad, you think you know someone and some thing like this comes out and you start questioning whether he has always been doing this. Our group that always played together considered ourselves to be true to the game and to the rules. We didn’t play for the same HS, but our team had tests on the rules every couple weeks. We held each other to those standards. I don’t know if this started later in his career or was a guy in his 30’s seeing the bleak chances of making the tour, but when I read about the hole in 1 numbers and knowing he never hit one back when I played with him was concerning. Man I am just disappointed that he turned out the way he did. It’s a shame that he thought he needed to cheat to move forward. Our whole group always thought he would have a good career in golf, but never thought it would end like this. Just sad.
I went to College at Methodist University in Fayetteville, NC with Matt. Class of 2009. BA with a minor Professional Golf Management. I don’t remember him graduating. I remember playing with him freshman year and being somewhat of a quality player. I don’t think he graduated. I believe he ended up caddying a bunch of random clubs around the country. This saddens me as we played many rounds together.
One more thing. I would call coach Conley at Methodist who is still there. I believe he made the golf team one year there. Would be interesting to hear if he ever found him cheating on the team. We won the National championship DIII twice in four years there.
Who marks their ball differently on every round at that level? Audio interview contradicts the facts.
I bet his sponsor is Trump…just saying
Is this guy related to Patrick Reed?
Remarkable stories … and I’ve learned from it. I always mark my pellets with a purple dot above the last letter, like an asterisk. But I never think to make sure they’re different numbers. I will now.
I’m surprised he doesn’t play No.45 balls.
The caddy gave you all the answers that didn’t add up. On 5, the other competitors were 50yds away. In that time, Matt and his caddy walked toward the green, stopped to go to bathroom, searched for ball, Matt finds ball in hole, caddy drops bag 20yds from green to search for ball 5yds off green, then goes back to to green to record the ball in hole and still did all of this before the other group could see them on the green.
The others players had to already hit their approach shots, otherwise Matt and his caddy wouldn’t have been up on the green looking for the ball in the middle of the other players approach.
All this would done before the other players can walk 50yds to catch up. Case closed. Caddy and Matt are both scumbags cheaters. End of story!
Just sad. And the fact that his caddy was an active participant is doubly sad. Both of these guys missed class the year that moral development was taught.
“I play fast”….MAYBE YOU SHOULD STOP DOING THAT!
He’s probably kosher. They lie and cheat with EVERYTHING.
This pod cast is a good example of why guest pre interview drug testing should be mandatory. “ was it a 12 or a 12” lol FFS!
First, he should read the official rule book, not look for answers on the internet. Second, he should get a job at Golf Galaxy or Dick’s. Third, change his name from Moranz to Moron. Forth, take an ethics course at the local college — and don’t cheat on the exams.
*Moroz
*Fourth
Maybe check your spelling before calling someone else a moron.
The only thing worse would be for these accusations to be false. Don’t know how he could recover from this, even if he is innocent. Maybe he should have withdrawn once these questions started?
How did he identify his ball at the start of the round??
Nothing quite like taking inspiration from Mr. Burns and Mr. Smithers on the golf course.
If you’re not cheating in golf, you have not been playing long. Everyone does it. This guy and his caddy were just really brazen about it for whatever reason.
Some one should check more of the “PROFESSIONALS” from the Philadelphia area!!!
But somehow the PGA Tour loves Donald Trump and overlooks his constant dishonesty.
You haters are scum bags. Wait for the truth to come out.
Here’s the most compelling part of this story: look up his professional career scores. I did. Guy averages like 78-80 in over 30 tournaments. Yet he has had how many holes in 1? 36 (alleged)? Not a chance, EVER. I would call his @ss out on the course to slow down and NEVER walk in front of the group. Most of his egregious acts were done alone or when he was walking well in front of his playing partners. We will all approach the green together to avoid this mess. Isn’t that part of the golf ethics we all abide by???