Success is born on the bayou

By Paul Fitzgerald     11/12/09 6:00pm

At the David Toms Intercollegiate three weeks ago, freshman golfer Jade Scott was hot. Really hot. Five-birdies-in-a-row hot. The kind of hot that Tiger Woods and only a handful of others know, the kind that is seen only rarely in a college tournament. The kind of hot that is almost never seen in Rice gear. It was only his fourth collegiate event, and Scott was cruising, somewhere deep under par. Two rounds of 67 (-5) and 72 (+1) had left him tied for eighth place in the field of 75, but a rapid-fire string of birdies to start the third and final round shot him up the leaderboard.

How far, though, he didn't know.

The freshman asked Assistant Coach Austin Burk, who walked with Scott throughout the tournament, where he was in the standings. No idea, Burk responded. The two of them, coach and pupil, assumed that John Peterson of Louisiana State University, who had come out of the first two rounds on top, was still swinging from the top of the heap at the par-71, Jack Nicklaus-designed Country Club of Louisiana.

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As it often is, the assumption was wrong. Peterson had begun to show signs of slowing down, bogeying four holes in the final round. All the while, pressure off, Scott continued his aggressive style. He buzzed through the final round with a nearly-flawless swing, and he stepped off the green on the 18th with a 65 (-7) in his pocket.

That's when he saw the leaderboard, and that's when he learned he was the first Owl in four years to win a national tournament.

"He had the firepower to go out and win a tournament of this magnitude," Head Coach Drew Scott said.

Jade Scott, whose 65 was the best round shot by a Rice golfer since Mark Phingston's 65 at the 1989 Morris Williams Intercollegiate, had an incredible 17 birdies through the three rounds, the first five of which made up four strokes on Peterson, who finished second on the back nine. He helped his team, unranked and unheralded, place in a tie for fifth, ahead of three top-50 squads.

While Scott cited his focused attitude as the means for success, senior Chris Brown thought Jade's raw ability was the reason for the resounding victory.

"He put his money where his mouth is," Brown said. "He's a born winner."

Still, there might be something to the argument about his attitude. The team attended Saturday night's LSU-Auburn University football game, where they met PGA Tour golfer and LSU alumnus David Toms. Yet meeting the major champion did not faze the freshman.

"I didn't worry about the fun stuff we did, like meeting David Toms or going to the football game," Jade said. "My purpose was to play well and go out and win the tournament."

Simple and sweet, like the swing for which Jade Scott is quickly becoming known. Perhaps everyone should have seen such a terrific autumn coming from the freshman from Daingerfield, Texas. Jade Scott's father, Johnny (Lovett '75), played for Rice during the 1970's, and an e-mail he sent to Drew Scott alerted the coaching staff of his son's talents. When Drew Scott traveled to Kingwood to watch Jade compete in a junior event, he saw Jade birdie five holes in a row, an experience that showed the coach the kind of impact Jade could have on the team.

Yet when Jade stepped onto the Rice campus, it was impossible to foresee him making the transition to collegiate golf with such ease, even though the Hanszen College freshman had already placed in the top 10 in two tournaments prior to the David Toms tourney. While some might show concern about the effects success can have on a freshman, Drew Scott has no such worries.

"Jade is already pretty confident, but he understands that he has to play hard every week to succeed," the coach said.

With such a terrific fall already, it is hard not to wonder how high the ceiling is for Jade. He is already one of the top-ranked freshman golfers in the country, ranked 36th in the nation by Golfstat.com.

"He's gotten a lot better since he's been here, and he's only 18," Drew Scott said. "We don't know where he will be at the end of four years, and there's no telling how much better he can get."

Only time will tell. Jade followed up his victory with his fourth top-10 of the fall at the Carter Plantation Intercollegiate, hosted by Southeastern Louisiana University on Nov. 2-3. Scott's three-round score of 216 (E) put him at a tie for eighth with Brown and senior Michael Buttacavoli, a drop that caused little more than a blip of concern. Rice posted a second-place finish at the Carter Plantation, their fourth top-five finish of the fall, compared to only two top-five finishes throughout the full fall and spring 2008-09 season.

While the Owls entered the final round of play with a one-shot lead over the University of Louisiana- Lafayette and the University of New Orleans, they were unable to finish the tournament strong. Lafayette's final round score of 290 proved insufficient, and the Ragin' Cajuns defeated Rice by a single shot.

Second place might appear acceptable, but the Owls have much higher aspirations than did last season's squad. Such a difficult manner of losing makes a second-place result all the more frustrating.

"I know they could've played better, and I know that's what they're saying to themselves, too," Drew Scott said. "But at the same time, we have to look at the positives, and we finished second, beat 11 teams, and went into the offseason on a positive note."

With their fall season in the books, the Owls can look back on strong performances in four out of five events, including their first team tournament title since 1997. A strong fall should give the team momentum heading into their two-and-a-half-month offseason, which ends Feb. 15 with the Rice Intercollegiate at the Westwood Country Club. Yet the sour taste in the mouth of the Rice golfers means the team plans to work hard to improve their games in the offseason.

"Individually, I hope the guys work hard to improve the quality of this team," Drew Scott said. "The fact that we're now upset about finishing second is big."

As for Jade Scott, he is slowly realizing that even his blossoming talent can only take him so far. After all, he still gets to enjoy the perks of being a freshman.

"He has coaches and teammates that will keep him from getting overconfident," Drew Scott said. "He'll still have to do all the freshman stuff, like loading the van.

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