Love on the links: Michael and Sydney Mattiace take their partnership to the Underwood Cup

Posted by author February 4, 2025 Golf

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The two former University of North Florida standouts became the first married couple to complete as partners in a First Coast match play event at the Deerwood Country Club

Michael and Sydney Mattiace became friends while on the freshman golf teams at the University of North Florida in the fall of 2016 and began dating in the summer of 2017.

Was golf the obvious connection?

Are you kidding?

All the guy did was get down on bended knee, pull out a ring and propose on the 17^th tee of the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass during the week of the 2021 Players Championship, the same ground his Uncle Len Mattiace used to prowl every year as a PGA Tour player.

Sydney Shrader said yes, they got married in December of 2022 and their life as mixed partners is now two years and counting.

“You could see after a time that their relationship was headed in that direction,” said Jordan Batchelor, Mattiace’s former UNF teammate. “It was a very unique relationship because golf is such a big part of it. Mike is from a big golf family and Sydney fit right in.”

Mr. and Mrs. Mattiace made a bit more history this week at the 34^th Underwood Cup Matches.

Michael Mattiace, a Bolles graduate and now an assistant golf coach at UNF, and Syndey Mattiace, the head professional at the Sawgrass Country Club, are members of the Northern Chapter PGA team and were partners in both doubles sessions on Feb. 3 at the Deerwood Country Club.

They drew perhaps the amateur team’s best twosome and longtime friends and UNF alums Jeff Dennis and Batchelor. The Mattiaces held their own, halving a morning foursomes match (after leading 3-up with five holes to play) and falling 2 and 1 in the afternoon fourballs.

“I think we played pretty well,” Michael Mattiace said. “They made some unbelievable putts. Jeff’s a great ball strike and not normally known for his putting but he holed a bunch of putts outside 40 feet.”

Michael Mattiace was Batchelor’s teammate during some of UNF’s best years (they won two ASUN titles and played in two NCAA tournaments together) and Dennis, a former UNF player, was their assistant coach.

Mattiace and Batchelor also teamed up to win the 2018 Florida Four-Ball Championship.

Batchelor said Sydney Mattiace more than held her own.

“Absolutely,” he said. “Whoever plays her in singles [during Tuesday’s second day] is going to have to play well.”

Both Mattiaces were All-ASUN

Michael Mattiace was the ASUN co-freshman of the year in 2017, All-ASUN in 2020 and was on the ASUN All-Academic team five times.

At the same time, Sydney Mattiace, a native of Naples, was helping the Ospreys women’s team win one ASUN title and make an NCAA appearance. She was a three-time All-ASUN player, made the All-Academic team twice and led UNF in scoring average in three seasons.

She also is the first UNF player to have won an individual tournament title, at the 2018 Amelia Collegiate.

Oddly enough, the two didn’t meet on the golf course but in a freshman algebra class. But the friendship and relationship blossomed during long hours on the practice range at the Hayt Center.

“We were really good friends for a while but we built the relationship on golf,” Sydney Mattiace said.

They now spend more time helping other people play and get better at the game, Michael as an assistant for both the UNF men’s and women’s teams and Sydney as the youngest female head professional on the First Coast and certainly among the youngest in the nation.

But they find time to play golf together at least once a week and with the difference in tees — Michael plays from the tips, Syndey from the middle tees — it’s usually an even game.

“Either one of us can win on a given day,” Michael said.

They asked pro captain to play them together

Michael Mattiace made the Cup Match team on the season-long chapter points race but Syndney Mattiace also played well during the year and was an easy choice for captain Mike Broderick.

“They’re a great couple and they made a great team,” said Broderick, who knew Michael as a junior player and had Sydney on his staff when he was the Sawgrass head pro. “There was no doubt about putting them together. They’re both quality players.”

Michael Mattiace said they’ve been getting ready for Monday’s doubles since the end of last year.

“We both expected to be on the team,” he said. “I don’t know if you can call this groundbreaking. I would say it’s more fun than anything.

And how did their process work as partners?

For one thing, a bad shot was usually greeted with a smile and a laugh, rather than frustration at one of the other being put in a bad position.

Michael was quick to point out his errant tee shot at No. 16 in foursomes that forced his wife to drop well back of the fairway and punch out.

“That was the only hole where one of us put the other in a bad position and it was me that did it,” Michael said. “Other than that, we both played well. Jeff and Batch just played better.

“You laugh at it … you don’t just get on him for what he did wrong,” Sydney said. “There are some ground rules.”

And besides, they have to leave the golf course together.

No sense doing it mad.