All your favorite teams and sources in one place

Build your feed

Your Teams.
All Sources.

Build your feed

© 2024 BVM Sports. Best Version Media, LLC.

No results found.
Yorktown cornhole bagger Morton wins Rock Hill Invitational
Professional cornhole bagger Matthew Morton has become one of the top players in the American Cornhole League. With his first singles victory under his belt, Morton looks to build on his impressive start. (Photo: Michael Morton)

Yorktown cornhole bagger Morton wins Rock Hill Invitational

YORKTOWN, Va. (BVM) — In May, Matthew Morton was one of the few professional athletes in the United States who was able to participate in actual regulated and live sporting events. Although there wasn’t the usual crowd interaction and he was forced to wear a mask to follow COVID-19 regulations, the hurdles didn’t slow Morton down on his way to his first singles win as a professional. 

“It had a very different feel to it for a lot of reasons,” Morton said. “Obviously no fans there felt different on the main stage, but because I wear earbuds and listen to music while I play, it didn’t have a big impact on me. Because I used to play a slow and deliberate game in the past, the pace of the game going much slower didn’t really affect me too much.”

The professional cornhole bagger was victorious at the American Cornhole League’s Rock Hill Pro Invitational Qualifier on May 9 in Rock Hill, S.C. The tournament included 64 participants from across the country and culminated in Morton defeating the No. 1 player in the world, Jamie Graham, in the championship. 

“It felt amazing. It was a mix of adrenaline, excitement and relief all at the same time,” Morton said.

https://www.facebook.com/833079833478830/videos/176516613654778/

 

The tournament was featured on both ESPN and ESPN2 as one of the few televised professional sporting events that was occurring in the early days of May, with the championship round being aired on ESPN. With his victory and the increased viewership of the event, Morton received more attention from his peers and others than before, even being featured in a commercial for AllCornhole where he highlights the company’s newest bag, “The GameChanger.”

“I expect to have a target on my back and that everyone will definitely be bringing their ‘A’ game when they play me,” Morton said. “I’m also learning to adjust to the added visibility and exposure. My social media accounts have completely blown up and I try, with a little help from my dad, to keep up with them the best that I can.”

One of the highlights of the tournament and Morton’s career so far was when he hit a four-bagger (a cornhole term for sinking all four bags of a round into the hole), while also converting an And1 shot against Cheyenne Renner, the No. 25 player in the ACL . The And1 shot, in which a player knocks off an opponent’s bag while simultaneously making one of their bags in the hole, is widely considered one of the most difficult shots to make in the game. Morton made it look effortless.

https://www.facebook.com/iplaycornhole/videos/257655165600264/

Although Morton is particularly fond of an airmail shot (when the bag goes in the hole without any contact to the board) during the World Championships last year, he admitted the And1 may be his most memorable.

“Just because I felt like it ignited me and put me in the zone for the rest of the tournament,” Morton said.

As likely one of the youngest professional athletes in the country, the 17-year old recent graduate of Tabb High School is not new to the professional circuit of his sport, having officially joined at the age of 15. Morton made the transition to the pro levels rather quickly, considering he had only started playing competitively near his hometown of Yorktown with his dad, Michael, at age 11. Morton remembers those days as not only the establishment of his newfound career path, but also as a bonding opportunity between a father and son.

“I would watch (my dad) at family gatherings and at small local charity tournaments and always wanted to play because it looked like so much fun,” Morton said. “Eventually, some of the local players saw me playing off to the side at a tournament and asked me to join. … It was fun to travel with my dad and play in tournaments.”

Back then, Morton and his dad would play for $2 blind draws for fun with all the money going to charity. Those early tournaments revealed that the young Morton was not your typical cornhole player, but a star in the making. Morton used those tournaments as a sort of jumping off point for his now professional career, learning the ins and outs of the game while also gaining significant insights into strategy and competition.

“I really enjoyed it and saw that I seemed to have a natural talent for it, so I just never stopped playing,” Morton said. “(The tournaments) really helped me learn to play under various game conditions, with good partners, with bad partners, playing from ahead, playing from behind, sticky boards, slick boards and so on.”

Two years ago, Morton and his dad decided to take their game to the next level, registering to play in the ACL and traveling to all of the national tournaments. By the time the season ended, Morton had established himself as one of the best players in the league being ranked 15th in singles play. His ranking made Morton eligible for the ACL’s pro division, which was entering its first season the following year.

Being new to the professional ranks, Morton admitted that his performances back then were fine, but not up to the level he holds himself to. But, the young bagger slowly began building positive momentum as the season wore on.

“At each national tournament I got better and better so that by the end of the year I was the 10th ranked pro player in singles, and in doubles my partner and I continued to get better throughout the year,” Morton said.

With his victory at the Rock Hill Pro Invitational Qualifier, Morton earned a spot in the ACL’s nationals in Valley Forge, Penn. in July. (Photo: Michael Morton)

Although he had been participating across the country in qualifiers, regionals and nationals, Morton couldn’t get over the hump to win any of the events he had participated in. He had gotten as close as second place at the 2019 Final Chase National and at the 2019 ACL World Championships Pro Doubles with his partner, Brad Powers, in the first-ever live broadcast of cornhole on ESPN. Although he was victorious as a member of a team that won the 2019 Crew Cup at the World Championships, Morton wanted more.

“The Crew Cup win will always be special to me because Brad Powers, Caleb and Michael Avery and myself played so well as a team at the biggest tournament of the year,” Morton said. “We each picked the exact right moment when the team needed us to get hot and make the shots we needed to. That being said, this win is probably more significant because it was more of a personal statement that I could beat someone of Jamie’s caliber on the big stage.”

With his win at Rock Hill, Morton not only squashed any questions about his place among the ACL elite, but also gave him a sense of belonging in the world of cornhole.

“I was close to winning tournaments like this one in the past, but each time had always run into a world-class player that would get hot and I’d come up just short,” Morton said. “To get over the hurdle this time against Jamie Graham, the No. 1 ranked player in the ACL, felt amazing and also felt like a little bit of relief, like I had finally taken the next step.”

With the win, Morton has now qualified for the ACL’s nationals in Valley Forge, Penn. in July where Morton and others will compete for a $65,000 cash prize. This season, Morton could also qualify for the World Championships later this year in which the grand prize is $250,000. Although that kind of money is significant, especially for a young adult like Morton, he keeps the idea of a full-time career in the ACL in perspective.

“I would love to, but I am realistic,” Morton said. “The game isn’t quite ready to support a full-time career quite yet, but the ACL is working extremely hard to take it to the next level. The exposure on ESPN has definitely helped in that regard so I’m cautiously optimistic.”

For the rest of the season, Morton looks to further establish himself among the ACL’s best. Although the season is a unique one and a bit limited due to the issues surrounding COVID-19, that isn’t stopping Morton from aiming high.

“Coming into this year though I wanted to win at least one national in singles and doubles throughout the season,” Morton said. “Knowing how tough the competition is going to be at the World Championships, I think a realistic goal would be top four in singles, doubles and Crew Cup, but the ultimate goal would be to win them all.”

With his first professional singles victory under his belt, Morton, the current No. 3 player in the world will look to add to his winning total this season. And as far as the cornhole versus bags debate goes, Morton had one answer.

“What’s ‘bags’? It’s obviously cornhole,” Morton said with a laugh.