All Wright Now

Chad Wright was all wrong.

After reaching an all-time high in his golf career as a sophomore at USC in 1995, a year in which he finished fifth in the NCAA championships and was named honorable mention All-American, Wright could do no right in 1996.

His stroke average slipped from a team-leading 73.6 as a sophomore to 75.0 as a junior. His best finish as a junior was seventh place, and he said he never even got into contention to win.

Those close to him say the slump bothered him tremendously--put him in the duffer doldrums.

But armed with a new set of irons, a new putter and a new private coach, the Buena High graduate has regained his 1995 form. Wright has won the last two college tournaments he has entered.

Wright, a senior, will be going for a third consecutive tournament victory beginning Monday when USC hosts the 20th annual Southwestern Invitational, a 54-hole, 12-team tournament over two days at North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village that includes seven top-25 teams.

But Wright isn’t thinking too much about winning again.

“I just want to go out there and keep playing the way I’ve been playing,” he said. “If it’s good enough to win, great. But you can’t really get ahead of yourself too much in tournaments, you’ll just destroy yourself.”

That’s exactly what happened to Wright last season.

He entered the 1996 season as USC’s top returning starter. He led the Trojans in seven tournaments as a sophomore, including the NCAA championships, the NCAA West Regional and the Pac-10 championships. Following that season with a better one became Wright’s obsession and the pressure caused him to slip to the No. 3 spot on his team.

“I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform,” Wright said of his slump. “I had higher expectations after my sophomore season and my mind wasn’t in the right place on the course. I was thinking about results, not what I needed to do to get those results.”

Wright, whose recent victories have both come in sudden-death playoffs, has found that it doesn’t necessarily take greatness to win.

He made three consecutive pars to outlast Rory Sabatini of Arizona in a playoff at the Aldila Collegiate Classic March 4 at Carlton Oaks Country Club in San Diego.

He used five consecutive pars to defeat three others in a March 11 playoff at the Oregon Duck Invitational at Eugene Country Club.

“When I tasted success for the first time, I guess I figured I’d just have to show up the next time,” Wright said. “But golf is a game of, ‘What have you done for me lately?’ I spent last year learning that the hard way--struggling, grinding it out, and I learned a lot.”

That type of stubbornness and willingness to work is what got Wright where he is. When he was eight years old, his father, Jim, told him he was too young to take up golf. Jim was teaching the game to Chad’s older (by three years) brother, Justin--also a former Buena High standout.

“I was going to wait to teach Chad because I thought eight [years old] was too young,” Jim Wright said. “But he wouldn’t have it. If his older brother was going, then so was he.”

They practiced together at the driving range for several weeks, then ventured to the since renamed Fairview Golf Course, a par-3 layout near Santa Barbara. Chad parred the first hole he played.

“He probably shot over 100 for the round, I don’t remember,” Jim said. “But that first hole he put it right on the green and two-putted.”

Good things have happened to Chad, now 21, ever since. He was selected Co-MVP (along with brother Justin) of the Buena High team as a freshman. He won two Channel League titles, and finished second to Tiger Woods in the 1993 Southern Section championships. His numerous accolades in junior golf include a runner-up finish in the Junior World championship as a 17-year old.

So when he struggled last year, he baffled a lot of people.

“Fundamentally he’s always been sound,” said USC Coach Kurt Schuette, who recruited Wright out of high school while coaching at Pepperdine. “And he has a good head on his shoulders, so it was tough to watch him struggle with the mental aspect of the game.”

Wright’s turnaround began in October, when he won the Savane College All-America Classic at El Paso Country Club in El Paso, Texas. In that tournament Wright defeated a field of 17 others with past All-American honors. Again, it was a sudden-death playoff. This time it took a birdie on the third playoff hole to defeat Tag Ridings of Arkansas.

Wright’s recent surge has catapulted him from unranked nationally to 58th to 39th in the last three Rolex rankings.

Just before his victory at Carlton Oaks, Wright went to see a new teacher--Brad Sherfy of Mulligan Golf Center, who, oddly, happens to be the UCLA golf coach.

“Figure that one out,” Wright said.

He also picked up a new putter from noted Oxnard golf club aficionado Lou Rada--the man who coached PGA Tour player Paul Stankowsi at Hueneme High.

And unhappy with a switch from Ping to Titleist clubs prior to his junior year, Wright went back to Pings before this season.

“The results speak for themselves,” Schuette said. “It’s been the product of a lot of little things coming together.”

Now that he is enjoying success again at USC, he is part of a squad that is ranked third in the nation by Golfweek magazine and has a legitimate shot at winning the national championship.

Afterward, Wright plans on playing out the summer as an amateur before turning professional and trying PGA Tour school in the fall.

“I’m not sure if I’m ready yet,” Wright said. “I know I have a lot of room for improvement. It’s just so tough out there because those guys are so experienced. You look at the average age out there and most of them are over 30 years old.”

“Very few of the good ones are in their early 20s--just the phenoms: Tiger [Woods], [David] Duval, [Phil] Mickelson. I don’t think I have the kind of talent they have, it’s something that they’re born with. But that’s no reason you can’t become more consistent and figure out a way to improve parts of your game.

“Look at a guy like Tom Kite or Nick Faldo. They don’t really do anything special but they win tournaments. They grind it out and wear down their competitors. That’s the way I’d have to play to be able to make it out there.”