By: John Maffei | utsandiego.com
There was a time when Scott Piercy’s temper got the best of him.
“He’d put happy faces on his golf balls to remind himself to calm down,” said Ryan Donovan, men’s golf coach at San Diego State, a friend and former Aztecs teammate.
Now, after nearly a decade of struggling on mini-tours, years of getting his emotions under control and his game on the right track, Piercy has to pinch himself.
A win at the RBC Canadian Open last year has fully qualified him for every event on the PGA Tour this season.
And he’s off to a flying start, finishing in a tie for 13th at the wind-shortened Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Kapalua, and a tie for 15th in Honolulu.
Heading into the Farmers Insurance Open at the Torrey Pines Golf Course, Piercy has already earned $210,000.
“Once I was able to get the physical part of my game under control, I was able to use the mental part,” Piercy said.
The harmonic convergence of mental and physical started in 2010 at the John Deere Classic in Illinois. It was there the 34-year-old Piercy met swing coaches Chris O’Connell and Jim Hardy of Plane Truth Golf.
“They worked on my swing, tightened my misses, showed me where to hit and how to manage my game,” Piercy said. “A year later, I won (at the Reno-Tahoe Open, beating former Torrey Pines High great Pat Perez by a stroke), then I won again in 2012.”
Piercy’s only other professional wins were in a two-week span in 2008 on the Nationwide Tour. Those came seven years after he turned pro, vaulted him to ninth on the Nationwide Tour money list and earned him PGA Tour playing rights for 2009.
“I was always confident I’d get here, but I’d be lying if I said I never questioned myself,” Piercy said. “You play on the little tours, you’re still a professional golfer and there is always hope.
“But it’s not easy to stay focused on the big picture.”
The big picture, of course, is being fully qualified on the PGA Tour, playing the majors, match play and Doral.
“I’m definitely looking forward to that,” Piercy said. “That’s what you play for.
“When you play on the feeder tours, you play in every event you can. I might go three months without a break.
“The PGA Tour can be a grind, so I’m learning which weeks to take off. I’m still unsure when to play and when to take a break, rest, spend time with the family.”
There was never any question he was playing this week. Surprisingly, he doesn’t think his years at San Diego State give him an advantage at Torrey Pines.
“I haven’t played Torrey as much as you would think,” Piercy said. “We played it three or four times a semester in my three years at State.
“I guess that’s a good amount, but I don’t think it gives me an advantage because they’ve redone the course.
“The one thing you learn the more you play Torrey is the flight of the ball, the roll of the greens and how to play at sea level.”
Last year, his third time playing Torrey Pines as a pro, Piercy shot a 9-under 279 and finished tied for 13th.
Piercy, who grew up in Las Vegas, started his college career at BYU. He transferred to San Diego State in 1999 and played three years for the Aztecs.
He met his wife at San Diego State while rooming with Donovan.
“We’ve always been close,” Donovan said. “At times, it was at a distance, but we never lost contact. He has always been dedicated to the game. He always had a lot of power off the tee, but didn’t always know where the ball was going.
“He has a strong will and has a ton of confidence.”
Donovan said Piercy has never forgotten his Aztecs roots.
“Scott came back and spent a day with JJ Spaun, our All-American,” Donovan said. “Scott told JJ he was a great player in a dome, but golf isn’t played in a dome.
“He needed to play in wind, rain, heat. He talked to my players about knowing the course, knowing yourself and playing the percentages.
“Two years ago, he came to a fundraiser for our program. We auctioned him off, and we raised a lot of money.
“He didn’t have to do any of that.”
Piercy did it, he said, because he thinks “San Diego is awesome.”
“No one likes school, but San Diego State was great to me,” Piercy said. “It allowed me to play at a high level, and I made some great friends. And Donovan is a really good dude.
“So, I’m looking forward to playing Torrey this week. I’m connected to San Diego, and I’d love nothing more than to win here.”