MANSFIELD — Chad Scott braved wretched weather, a Caddyshack flashback, and even a surly alligator to pull off one of the biggest golf victories in local history last weekend.
The Westbrook County Club champion captured the senior men’s division PGA National Club Championship at Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina.
The event is an invitational tournament run by the PGA of America that features amateur club champions from across the country, as long as a PGA professional is on staff. In Westbrook’s case, that qualification is filled by club pro Greg B. Smith.
“I’m really overwhelmed by the response back home,” Scott said from South Carolina. “So many people have reached out to me, it’s really something.
“It feels like a win for Westbrook, really for the whole community.”
Scott, the owner of Martini’s on Main in Mansfield, took an unorthodox path to victory over a whopping 311 players from all over the world.
The local golfer is 1990 Galion High School graduate and was part of the Tigers’ state-qualifying team as a junior. But then he went into the military and spent a decade in New York City, and was really away from the sport during that time.
Scott returned to the area in 2008, and rediscovered his love for the game. He honed his hobby for years and last August won the Westbrook Club championship in a match-play event that pitted the course’s top eight players. That qualified him for the PGA National Club Championship, which rotates to a new site every year.
“One of my buddies two years prior had won the club championship, Matt Malone, and he got to play at Pinehurst. He said it was an A-plus experience,” Scott said. “So when I won that was the first thing on my mind, I’m definitely doing that.”
His first day of the 54-hole event, Scott was in a group with a golfer from Hawaii, as well as former PGA Tour player Steve Dana. That day featured the best playing conditions of the entire event, and the former Tiger took full advantage.
Scott got off to a white-hot start, firing a 4-under-par 68 on Feb. 15 at Cougar Point, that catapulted him up the leaderboard. He followed on Feb. 16 with a 4-over-par 76 at the Ocean Course.
Scott said he wasn’t paying attention to the leaderboard, but as the final day opened, on Feb. 17 at Turtle Point, he was two shots behind the leader and still playing with Dana.
The conditions were miserable, cold, wet, sideways wind whipping up to 40 miles per hour and rain.
“It was like that scene out of Caddyshack,” Scott said. “It was definitely survival of the fittest out there.”
Braving the weather made his ultimate victory even sweeter, and probably played into his stoic, steady game.
“I don’t make tons of birdies, and I’m not a big hitter, but I’m pretty adept at getting the ball in the hole,” Scott said. “I just keep it in play and don’t make big scores.
“I don’t worry about making more birdies, just make less bogies.”
Teeing off amid brutal conditions at Turtle Point, and trailing the leader by just two shots when the final day began, combined to test his resolve.
Scott steeled himself and caught the leader at No. 9. Both players birdied No. 10. Scott took the lead from Dana on No. 11 and hung on from there.
He never looked at the leaderboard, and never relinquished the lead, but there were a couple of perilous moments.
At No. 16, the local wildlife came into play.
“I did have a ‘Come-to-Jesus moment on 16,” Scott said. “I hit a very poor shot about four feet from an alligator. It wasn’t huge, maybe a 7-footer, but he wouldn’t move. I looked at the rules official and he said there’s nothing really you can do.
“So, I’ve gotta hit this ball over a pond about 70 yards and I finally just walked up to address the ball, looked out of the corner of my eye, and I heard something jump — I just ran down the fairway because I thought he was chasing me.
“It turned out he had jumped back in the water. So I went back to my ball, hit my shot up on the green, and took my bogey. When I got to the green, he came back out of the water and was right back in the same spot.”
With very little visibility, darkened sky, wind and rain, Scott came to 18 with the lead. The last hole was 430 yards, water from tee to green, but at least it was downwind.
“I hit a really hard, hot 3-wood, that probably went 280, which is a big hit for me. I crushed the 9-iron and two-putted,” Scott said. “I didn’t realize I won, but a couple of guys following did and they congratulated me.”
That completed a round of 76, for a three-day total of 4-over-par 220, one shot ahead of Dana. Scott said the conditions ballooned the scores for the entire field.
“It was like that old story of being chased by the lion. You don’t have to outrun the lion, just the guy closest to the lion,” Scott said of his strategy on the course. “Nobody’s more surprised than I am.”
Shortly after winning, Scott posted the following message on his Facebook page:
“This was an A-plus, not just for me, but hopefully also for Westbrook Country Club and our stellar PGA professional, Greg B. Smith, who gave me the opportunity to play the event,” Scott said. “Thank you to everyone for the well wishes and congrats.
“I had no idea so many were engaged and following along. I’m grateful for all your friendships.”
