Canadian Matthew Anderson wins ECP Brazil Open on the PGA TOUR Americas – SCOREGolf

Matthew Anderson carded his third consecutive sub-70 round to win the 69th ECP Brazil Open at the Rio Olympic Golf Course. Anderson was one shot off the lead after 16 holes but rallied to make back-to-back birdies on Nos. 17 and 18 to secure his first victory as a professional.

“I really had some visualizations earlier in the week of kind of getting it done on 18,” said Anderson in his post-round interview. “The putt maybe ranged from like 4 to 10 feet, I don’t know what I had in my head, but yeah, it was really what I was visualizing, just the putt. You want that, a putt to win, and you execute and there’s like no better feeling.”

Anderson’s breakthrough win comes after T21 and T3 finishes at the season-opening Bupa Championship at Tulum and the Totalplay Championship at Atlas Country Club. Anderson’s maiden victory vaults him into the No. 1 spot in the Fortinet Cup season-long ranking through three tournaments.

“My game plan going into today was to make good swings, make the best swings that I can and whatever happens after that is out of my control. So I would say that I did that pretty well today,” said Anderson. “It was maybe a little bit squirrelly in some spots and loose iron shots and that stuff, but like to win, you don’t have to play perfect golf. My coach, Alf, told me that and I just tried to remember that out there. I guess going in with the lead, you just have the ability to make a couple mistakes and still be OK, so I knew that. I knew that I had kind of a couple mistakes on the front nine, a few bogeys, I was going to be fine.”

The Mississauga, Ont., native is the first Canadian to win on PGA Tour Americas and has registered six top 25s since he turned pro last summer. Anderson found success early in his career by winning the 2019 Ontario Men’s Amateur Championship. He was selected for the Golf Canada team in 2021-22 and has been part of the team since.

Prior to turning pro, Anderson came off an impressive finish in his graduate season at the University of San Francisco, earning All-American honors after notching a top-15 finish at the 2023 NCAA Championships. From there, Anderson gained status on PGA Tour Canada via a fourth-place finish at the PGA Tour Canada Qualifying Tournament. He finished 50th in the 2023 Fortinet Cup standings to gain membership into the inaugural PGA Tour Americas season.

Anderson is expected to be in the field at the Diners Club Peru Open, the fourth event of the Latin America Swing, which will be hosted at Los Inkas Golf Club from April 25-28 in Lima, Peru.