Captain Brady Exber and Assistant Captain Kevin Marsh, both Southern Nevada Golf Association and Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame members, spent the last two years planning for redemption following a 31.5-13.5 loss by the West team in 2022 at the prestigious East West Matches. Their plan worked to perfection as the West won 24.5-20.5 at Maridoe Golf Club in Carrolton, Texas, Nov. 1-3, 2024. Plus, the Matches seem to be at an all-time high in attention and respect.
The East West Matches started in 2020 and are played every two years, and bring together the best senior and mid-amateur golfers in the country. The three-day amateur golf competition features a Ryder Cup-style team format. The West now leads the series 2-1. The event was created by Scott Harvey from the East with huge support from Albert Huddleston, Maridoe’s owner and huge amateur golf proponent.
The West’s winning celebration kicked into high gear when Exber and Marsh were sprayed with champagne as the team posed for the victory photo.
“It was a great weekend and it means a lot to me to be the captain and get the victory,” said Exber, who was a key player in the 2020 matches. “So many great players wanted to be on this team but there were only 16 spots. I got numerous phone calls and texts for months and months about, ‘Hey, can I get on the team?’ We couldn’t get everybody on the team, but we obviously put a great team together. I am very appreciative of the guys who came and played. We put in a lot of time and effort over the last two years, and to see the plan work is very satisfying.”
The vision of the competition is “promoting the amateur game by bringing the best amateurs in the United States together for highly competitive matches and camaraderie in its purest form.” In reality, the East West Matches are a celebration of amateur golf and its history. In the field playing in 2024 were 589 total USGA national event appearances and a total of 23 national USGA titles.
Iowa’s Mike McCoy, a senior who won 3.5 out of 4 points and a former United States Walker Cup captain, was in awe.
“The talent and quality here playing is as high as it gets in the amateur game,” said McCoy, an 11-time Iowa player of the year. “All of these guys have accomplished so much and they are all champions. They are here because they are the best of the best. We all knew that we better be sharp when we showed up here, because otherwise we would get run over.”
Marsh, the captain in 2022, is one of the driving forces behind the East West Matches. Combined with being inducted into the Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame in October, this year is now even sweeter with the West win.
“We put so much thought and effort into this for almost two years,” Marsh said. “Scott and I talk a lot, and Brady and I spent a lot of time planning. It was important for us to put on a good showing. wWhether we won or lost, it was important to make it very competitive. Winning is a big deal because the East is so deep, and they are always going to have a very competitive team. For us to put the team together that we did and get the buy-in from pretty much every top player we asked to play was important and gratifying. Brady had a saying, ‘I don’t want any happy-to-be-there guys’, and I don’t think we had anybody who wasn’t there to play their best. Obviously not everybody won every match, but everybody was grinding and clawing for every half point or point they could get.”
The Mississippi River is the dividing line between East and West teams, each of which is made up of 18 players: six seniors and 12 mid-amateurs. For the first time, no college golfers competed in the event.
Maridoe Golf Club in Carrollton, Texas, is the official host facility.
“Not one of these guys gave up,” Exber said. “My team really showed up in the singles matches. It was such a tight match all week because the East was tough, but in the singles a few of my guys snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. The matches are growing in importance and stature, certainly in the players’ minds. The competition level here is as good as any mid-am or senior tournament. Every player is a top player. There is no weak spot.”
More info: www.eastwestmatches.com
Captain Brady Exber (left) led the West to victory with help from Denny Bull and Bobby Massa.