Getting to Know Matty-O

MattyO, or Matt Orrum, is a loveable fan favorite on the disc golf course, and we got the chance to sit down with him at Champions Cup and chat about his career and what inspires him. This past weekend’s performance was amazing. After placing 3rd in the 2022 World Championship which helped him finish 8th in the 2022 Disc Golf Pro Tour Points Series, Matty-O has had a solid start to the 2023 season and is heating up after the first leg of the Tour.

He has had a solid start to the 2023 season with three top-ten finishes including a T5th finish at the PDGA Champions Cup last weekend. His steady rise in the rankings this season has been amazing to watch, and coming in at 5th place this weekend was no small feat. His bogey free third round on Saturday of last week put him at 11 under par and helped him earn 93 DGPT points on the week heading into the second leg of the Tour which will start at Jonesboro next weekend. In the third round alone he moved up thirteen spots in the tournament. In Appling, Orrum was making 75% of his circle two putts and will look to keep the putter hot as the season makes a turn to the West Coast.

What has led to the success that Orum has seen in recent seasons? What keeps him going week to week? The answer is, of course, complex. Orum’s meteoric rise has been hard-fought, and he continues to grind to reach his goals.

Coming Up – Finding the Sport and Finding Love

Matt Orum was born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, and he has been playing disc golf practically his entire life. Growing up Matt Orum was lucky enough to have a father with his own disc golf pro shop, Sky South. Jimmy Orum, Sr. was also the co-founder of the Southern Nationals Disc Golf Series, which is still active in the Gulf Coast region.

Orum moved to the New Orleans area at 19 and said half of his personality comes from his formative years there. “That is where my love of dirty dive bars came from. That is where half of my personality came from. I was the shy, nice kid that sat at the bar when I was younger with a bunch of older people. Like I was half the age of most of the people there.” This move was after Hurricane Katrina in 2001, and folks were moving back and still recovering from the natural disaster, “All the different people had just moved in. So, I feel like that helped build my personality into what it is now. Just from being around them at the bars, and being around all the crazies at Mardi Gras. Having all…