Armstrong's vision leads him to the top ranks of amateur golfers
Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 |
When Dawson Armstrong watched Jordan Spieth win the U.S. Open this past Father’s Day, he watched with a range of emotions.
He was happy for the young golfer, who, at age 21, has won two majors in the span of three months in 2015—the Masters Tournament in April and the U.S. Open in June.
But he also watched in frustration, wanting to be standing in Spieth’s shoes at the pinnacle of professional golf.
“A huge goal of mine is to have a career in golf and to play on the PGA tour,” said the 19-year-old Armstrong. “All of my life, I’ve wanted to get there. I want to be able to look at myself, know that I tried my best and that I am the best I can be.”
Many golfers with Armstrong’s talent and success would be satisfied with what this freshman Bison golfer has accomplished up to this point in his career. Armstrong is just coming off a history-making season for the Lipscomb men’s golf team, during which he earned an invitation to compete in the 2015 NCAA Division I men’s golf championship, becoming the first Bison golfer to do so.
Even though he found himself in a battle for first place on the last round of the 54-hole, three-day NCAA championship regional hosted by the University of North Carolina at Finley Golf Course May 14-16, the Atlantic Sun Conference Newcomer of the Year is still haunted by the thought of what might have been.
On the last day of regional competition, Armstrong, one of 45 golfers from across the country vying for the opportunity to advance to the next round of the tournament, turned in the best round of any golfer in that region with a final round -7, 65. Not a bad finish considering Armstrong entered the day in a 10-way tie for 22nd and eight strokes behind the leader.
Armstrong started that final day of competition surging from the back of the pack to give himself a chance to win by shooting seven birdies. That performance put the reigning Atlantic Sun Conference Freshman of the Year in contention to advance to the NCAA championship round.
But Western Carolina’s J.T. Poston bested Armstrong in a two-hole playoff. Armstrong finished tied for second to finish just two shots behind Stanford’s Maverick McNealy, the No. 1 ranked player in the country by both Golfweek and Golfstat.
“I’m kind of in shock still,” said Armstrong shortly after the playoff. “Sadly, I’m more disappointed than I am happy because I always want to do the best I can. I hate losing more than I love winning. Shooting 65 was really good, and it brings a lot of attention to Lipscomb and myself, but my goal coming in was to make it to nationals, and I didn’t quite do that.
“Knowing that I was one shot off qualifying for nationals is very frustrating,” said Armstrong, whose father, Dale, senior development counsel at Lipscomb, played golf for the Bisons from 1982-86. “I’ve never really lost the drive to get better, and this definitely doesn’t hurt it. I want to prove that we, as Lipscomb, can do big things and that I, as a player, can do big things. I want to show that hard work pays off and no matter how many punches get thrown at you, you have to keep on going.”
And keep going he did. This summer Armstrong has worked tirelessly to improve on his performance in the NCAA regional. He turned his frustration and disappointment into a force to be reckoned with. On July 6, Armstrong sank four birdies in his final eight holes to win the 2015 Dogwood Invitational at the Druid Hills Golf Club in Atlanta.
Just one month later, Armstrong went where only some of the crème de la crème of golf have gone. He won the Western Amateur Championship, one of the top tournaments for amateur golfers, joining past winners such as Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ben Crenshaw.
Armstrong won it in what is becoming his signature style—in an exciting, sudden-death playoff. The win catapulted him from being the 115th ranked amateur golfer to No. 32 in the world, according to Scratch Players, with three victories over players in the top 20 during the four rounds of match play at the Western Amateur, which dates back to 1899.
“It’s been a long, hectic, crazy week but I’m honored and blessed,” said Armstrong. “The last tournament that I had a chance to do this was the Dogwood Invitational, and I said then that all the glory goes to the Father, and there’s no exception for this tournament. All the glory goes to God.”
Will Brewer, men’s golf head coach, said Armstrong has the potential for notable accomplishments in his career in college and beyond.
“Dawson is an exceptional young man. He knows who he is. He believes in his ability, and he is able to compete on the highest level,” said Brewer, a Lipscomb graduate who was the 1976 NAIA national golf champion. “It’s unusual to have a young man so focused with the drive that he has. He has a strong body, mind and heart which gives him the potential for great success.”
Brewer said Armstrong continually looks for ways to improve his game.
“Dawson is always the first one at practice and the last one to leave,” said Brewer. “He expects so much of himself and often asks how he can get better and improve his game. It’s a coach’s dream to have a player who is that inquisitive and has the desire to get better.
“He is the kind of player that comes along only a couple of times in a coaching career. His final round at the NCAA regional is one of the best rounds of golf I’ve ever seen. It just shows how much potential he has. Typically only about five percent of college golfers make it to the professional level. He is in that percentage if he doesn’t get injured, continues to work on his game and keeps his mind right.”
Armstrong said Brewer has had a big impact on him and the team.
“Coach Brewer is a great coach, but most importantly he is a great teacher and mentor,” said Armstrong, whose older brother, Dowling, is also on the Bison golf team. “He has been at the highest level of golf and knows what it takes to get there. He knows that we can each improve individually and as a team and believes that we are capable of reaching our potential.”
In the off-season, Armstrong uses that passion to improve his game, as evidenced by his successes this summer, to “work on everything I can, to keep my body in shape and to fine tune every aspect of my game.”
“Golf is a year-round effort,” he said. “It’s also one of the toughest games one can play. In other sports you can have small errors and still have success. In golf, each time you play you have different conditions such as a new course, the weather and you compete against about 150 people each time. My competitive nature keeps pushing me to not settle and to try to be the best I can be. I do it because I love it. I just do.”
—Photo by Jeffery Camarati