Rice Memories: Barton Goodwin
6/16/2020 2:00:00 PM | Men's Golf, Blog
It's hard to believe it's been 42 years since I graduated from Rice. Trust me – before you sling the 'geez this guy's a fossil' jokes, the time really does go by too fast. Like so many of us, I cherished my time at Rice, covet my degree and the opportunities it afforded me, and greatly value the friendships I made for a lifetime.
I was on the golf team, and was fortunate to have compiled a great record. I lettered all four years, achieved All-Southwest Conference honors three of those years, was a third team All-America selection in 1976, and was proud to have been selected to an eight-person team that represented the USA in a Ryder Cup-like competition against Japan's top eight in December of that year. I won two twenty-team tournaments, one by nine shots, another by fourteen. When I was 'on', I really played well.
It was at the 1976 NCAA Championships in June, following my sophomore year, that I almost caught 'lightning in a bottle'. The tournament was held in Albuquerque at the University of New Mexico Championship course. The field included several future major champions, including Curtis Strange, Mark O'Meara and Scott Simpson. Jay Haas was the defending champion. Other pre-tournament favorites that went on to enjoy PGA Tour success included Keith Fergus, Peter Jacobsen and Chip Beck.
I had 'one of those weeks'. The course suited me, the wind blew (for some reason I seemed to always play well in the wind), and when I got up and down out of a bunker on the last hole, it appeared that I had won the national championship by one shot, shooting four-under par 284 in tough conditions.
As I was receiving congratulations in the clubhouse, we received word that Scott Simpson had moved late into contention. Playing in the last group and finishing on the front nine in relative obscurity (his team, USC, was out of it, so they had played the back nine first), Scott had made four birdies on his last nine to come out of nowhere to tie me with one hole to play. As I watched from behind the green, he stood over an eighteen-foot birdie putt to win. Sure enough, his putt rolled up to the lip, hung for a second – and then fell in. He beat me by a shot. Aaaarrrrgggghhh!
I was disappointed, but realistically my finish was much higher than anyone expected. I consoled myself, as a twenty-year old would, that, "no problem, I'll just win it either in '77 or '78". Alas, that was my only chance for glory.
I have wondered if my life would have changed had I won. Perhaps I would have more strongly pursued a professional golf career. Things have a way of working out, though. I've enjoyed a very blessed life: a wonderful family, a great business career, and many friends. And, I don't think wincingly about that 'near miss' of being the national champion nearly as often anymore – only occasionally, maybe down to a couple of times now……….every day!
I was on the golf team, and was fortunate to have compiled a great record. I lettered all four years, achieved All-Southwest Conference honors three of those years, was a third team All-America selection in 1976, and was proud to have been selected to an eight-person team that represented the USA in a Ryder Cup-like competition against Japan's top eight in December of that year. I won two twenty-team tournaments, one by nine shots, another by fourteen. When I was 'on', I really played well.
It was at the 1976 NCAA Championships in June, following my sophomore year, that I almost caught 'lightning in a bottle'. The tournament was held in Albuquerque at the University of New Mexico Championship course. The field included several future major champions, including Curtis Strange, Mark O'Meara and Scott Simpson. Jay Haas was the defending champion. Other pre-tournament favorites that went on to enjoy PGA Tour success included Keith Fergus, Peter Jacobsen and Chip Beck.
I had 'one of those weeks'. The course suited me, the wind blew (for some reason I seemed to always play well in the wind), and when I got up and down out of a bunker on the last hole, it appeared that I had won the national championship by one shot, shooting four-under par 284 in tough conditions.
As I was receiving congratulations in the clubhouse, we received word that Scott Simpson had moved late into contention. Playing in the last group and finishing on the front nine in relative obscurity (his team, USC, was out of it, so they had played the back nine first), Scott had made four birdies on his last nine to come out of nowhere to tie me with one hole to play. As I watched from behind the green, he stood over an eighteen-foot birdie putt to win. Sure enough, his putt rolled up to the lip, hung for a second – and then fell in. He beat me by a shot. Aaaarrrrgggghhh!
I was disappointed, but realistically my finish was much higher than anyone expected. I consoled myself, as a twenty-year old would, that, "no problem, I'll just win it either in '77 or '78". Alas, that was my only chance for glory.
I have wondered if my life would have changed had I won. Perhaps I would have more strongly pursued a professional golf career. Things have a way of working out, though. I've enjoyed a very blessed life: a wonderful family, a great business career, and many friends. And, I don't think wincingly about that 'near miss' of being the national champion nearly as often anymore – only occasionally, maybe down to a couple of times now……….every day!
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