Posted on: Thursday, June 2, 2005
O'ahu golfer poised for dubious glory
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Advertiser Staff
Al Matusevich has found fame and notoriety on the golf course of late, but it's not for winning.
The retired Wai'anae Intermediate School teacher is one of four finalists in the World's Worst Swing, a contest sponsored by The Golf Channel and Golf Digest.
"People have called me the William Hung of the golf world," said Matusevich, referring to the American Idol wannabe who gained fame for his warbling.
The winner of the contest will be announced Monday on Your Game Night on The Golf Channel.
The winner will receive instruction from Dean Reinmuth, a partner in the contest who is consistently ranked in America's 50 Greatest Teachers, by Golf Digest. The winner also will appear in an issue of Golf Digest.
Matusevich is taking the contest in stride.
"It's been funny," he said, "it's just been amusing."
Said good friend Roger Takayama: "At first we were kind of worried about how he was going to take all of this, but he said he was going to take it for fun and see how far it goes."
Matusevich, who has been playing for 50 years, is one of several retired teachers who get together on Tuesdays to play golf. Takayama, one of his playing partners, videotaped Matusevich and sent the tape to contest organizers.
Takayama, who describes his friend's swing as "pretty ugly," got the inspiration to enter Matusevich in the contest while playing poker.
"We were playing poker," Takayama said, "and I told my friends, 'You know, I'm going to enter Al in this contest.' "
Matusevich didn't know that he had been entered in the contest until he found out he was a finalist.
"I wasn't even aware that it was sent in," he said.
Of the thousands of entries received, 10 were selected and were voted on by people on a Web site. The top four were chosen from the voting.
That's when Matusevich and his friends got into the spirit of the contest, calling friends and rallying votes.
"I've been able to get in touch with a lot of people that I haven't been in touch with in a long time," he said.
The other finalists are: Pat Diedrich of Columbus, Neb., Shane Eck, of Coatesville, Pa., and Brian Weir, of Valencia, Calif.
