Kiwi Matthew Lane attended the University of Oklahoma in the United States on a golf scholarship from 1986 to 1990 and was a member of the winning team at the 1989 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships. Following college, Lane turned pro and began a career playing on the Asian Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia, Canadian Tour, European Tour and Nationwide Tour.
Lane’s career culminated with a win at the 1998 New Zealand Open, which was held at Formosa Golf Resort. Without playing privileges on any of the major professional golf tours, he did not intend on attending the New Zealand Open that year. It was only after his father paid for his airfare to travel to New Zealand that Lane decided to attend. He was forced to Monday qualify for the tournament and after successfully doing so went on to shoot rounds of 72, 69, 74, 64 for a -9 total of 279.
In spite of dreadful playing conditions brought about by constant storm force winds which required Formosa to be set at less than maximum length, scores tended to be either most commendable or very forgettable. A feature of the event was the strong showing by New Zealand players and the success of Matthew Lane provided a three-year term of Kiwi winners which had not occurred in the previous fifty years. His 64 in the final round was an effort of extraordinary quality and he beat Australian Rod Pampling by 3 strokes.
