Petty wins 4 consecutive events as he defends his world title
Spartanburg's Davis Petty doesn't have anything to prove to those outside his inner circle as he gets underway Thursday attempting to defend last year's world championship in his age group.
The 10-year-old son of Hub City Delivery owners Joel and Sarah Petty has had the kind of summer most golfers of any age can only dream about, but his star first began to skyrocket just shy of a year ago at the U.S. Kids World Championships when the won the 9-year-old division by five shots at Pinehurst No. 1.
Petty was the lone player last year to shoot under par each round (69-68-70) to finish 9 under when there were only 15 rounds under par from the entire field of 110 golfers.
He was now featured as champion during Tuesday's Parade of Nations through the Village of Pinehurst (N.C.) before competing against a field of 148 10-year-olds from across the U.S., Puerto Rico and eight additional countries at Legacy Golf Links just outside Pinehurst.
"It's truly been a whirlwind 365 days for sure," said Chip Ridley, a Clemson alum who is Petty's instructor and head PGA professional at The Creek Golf Club. "The momentum is high and we're having a ball with it, but he's remained focused."
Petty tries for a second-consecutive world championship on the heels of a remarkable four-consecutive major victories since early June when the streak began with a victory at the Under Armour Southeast Regional Championship at Streamsong Resort in Bowling Green, Florida. He bounced back from an opening 78 at the 36-hole event with a tournament-low round of 69.
He followed that with July victories at the U.S. Kids Red, White and Blue Invitational at Pinehurst No. 1 (the same course he won last year's world title) and the Under Armour National Championship at Walt Disney World's Oak Trail course in Orlando, Florida. He flew back home and immediately competed in The Blade Junior Classic at Thornblade Club, winning the 54-hole event despite never having seen the layout prior to his opening round.
He'd already been a veteran of doing interviews with local newspapers, websites, radio and television outlets before the Today Show reached out late last week about doing a segment expected to air while the network is broadcasting the Olympics.
"I'm very overwhelmed with pride," Petty said of the interest in him. "It's amazing having people reaching out wanting to interview me, it's like a dream come true. Coming off of three wins, this is probably the best golf I've ever played and I'm having a great time doing it."
Joel Petty said, "You've got to get it while you can. there's going to be a lot more losing in the future than there will be winning. It's hard to win as many times as he has so what he's doing has been absolutely incredible. We never expected him to win four big ones in-a-row because of how difficult it is to do and how many things have to go your way to get that done."
His mother never played golf and his father, a former Lander baseball player, teed it up occasionally. Davis' grandfather was the golfer of the family and he lived on The Creek course. As an infant Davis received a Whiffle ball and bat and started putting the ball down on the ground and whacking it like a golf shot. That led to his parents going out and finding "the smallest set of little girl's clubs we could find so he started with a set that had pink shafts when he was 2 1/2 to 3-years-old."
Around that time the family would take their cart onto the course and allow Davis to attempt shots on various holes. His natural ability, even at that young age was unmistakable.
"We knew from there, all right, this is a little bit different," Joel Petty said. "So we probably needed to get him instruction and wondered if he was too young. We didn't know. We decided to see if someone wanted to work with him and it just went from there. It's been crazy."
He had one official lesson with another instructor before switching to Ridley at five-years-old and he's been working with him ever since.
So how quickly did Ridley understand he may have a budding prodigy on his hands?
"His driver swing right away was incredible, "Ridley said. "It was so fundamentally correct and you could tell he loved hitting the driver. He'd hit it 110 yards at 5 1/2 which makes golf pretty easy when you're playing the 6-year-old tees. His ability to look me in the eye, understand what I was saying then change what he was doing because he believed so much in his hands and eyes was tremendous.
"He could process the information, that's 100 percent what stood him apart. He trusts himself, trusts me and then the ability to process, his willingness to be coached and his belief in himself is what took him from a kid who could hit a ball on the range with his dad to being probably one of the top two or three players in the world at 11-and-under."
Joel Petty added, "He never really acted like a child, didn't ever really sit around and watch cartoons or play video games. He's just driven and motivated like that. I can't explain it, but it's a whole lot of fun to watch because to win tournaments like he's been winning you've got to have laser focus and be really mentally tough. It's something you just don't see every day and I'm not saying that just because he's my kid."
Petty, who splits his practice time between The Creek and Musgrove Mill, has made his biggest strides since last year's breakthrough win with the mental part of his game. A fiery competitor, he initially let poor shots get the best of him where one bad hole could lead to a stretch of multiple bad holes when he could play himself out of a chance to win.
"I feel I don't get down on myself as much as I used to," Petty said. "I think I'm also a better golfer than last year so I'm bringing that to the table and I think it will help me win. Me and Chip's motto has always been shot-by-shot and we try and get one percent better every day. We try not to force things and try to keep it going smoothly.
"My approach has remained the same. Winning puts more pressure knowing you have to go defend your title, but I'm going into it with the same mindset as every tournament. We go in there, do our thing and then get out."
Joel Petty said his son's increased mental toughness puts him "light years ahead there from at least 95 percent of his competition because most kids his age can't handle (the pressure)."
Another aspect fueling Petty's success is his pure love of the game. He's already a true grinder and practice aficionado who spends the vast majority of his time at the golf course. His parents on occasion will suggest a few days off from the sport, a request he sporadically grants begrudgingly.
"The only thing that keeps me from practicing is talking to the media," Petty said. "My mom wants me to take some days off because she doesn't want me to get burned out. I've just kept pushing and pushing myself to get better and I'm having a lot of fun trying to do that."
Joel Petty said his son only goes to the golf course when he chooses to do so and the family doesn't have any delusions of grandeur regarding their son becoming the next Tiger Woods or reaching elite status on the PGA Tour. That's a long way down the road.
"Our family doesn't have expectations like that," Joel Petty said. "My goal for Davis is to use this sport and his ability to get a college scholarship then whatever happens after that is just the gravy."
SOURCE: https://www.goupstate.com/story/sports/2021/07/29/spartanburg-golfer-davis-petty-defend-world-championship/5407353001/