BE golfer Austin Scott tees up future at Clemson

Austin Scott’s world has changed since May 14, 2019, when he stepped off the golf course in Camden after leading Bishop England High School to the Class AAA state championship.

 

Ten months after shooting a two-day total of 148 to earn all-state honors and helping the Bishops to their second straight state title and eighth overall, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the 2020 golf season as Scott and teammates wondered what could have been.

 

Not only that, just a month ago Scott injured his knee in a game of pickup basketball and is expected to miss the first half of the Bishops’ golf season, which will start in three months.

 

But not all the news has been bad. Scott recently signed a scholarship to play for the Clemson Tigers. It wasn’t a lifetime dream, it only seemed that way. Scott knew he wanted to play golf for the Tigers after attending golf camp at the school as a seventh- and eighth-grader.

 

“That’s when and why I really started to like Clemson,” said Scott, who has an older sister, Sydney, already at Clemson. “I visited a few times, and the football, the environment and educational opportunities were hard to beat.”

 

Scott led the Bishops in the 2019 state championship with a two-day total of 148, which was good for a tie for fourth place. He carded a 77 on the first day, but cut six strokes off his score on the second day.

 

That wasn’t his only accomplishment in 2019. He was a standout in junior golf in 2019, claiming the South Carolina Junior title.

 

In 2020, he finished sixth at the 2020 Carolina Boys Amateur. Scott finished in sixth-place at the AJGA Invitational in Rome, Georgia, and was eighth at the Beth Daniel Junior Azalea. He also finished 14th at the Dustin Johnson Invitational.

 

He said he hasn’t played as much on the junior circuit because he’s focused on becoming a 

better golfer – and that means more practice.

 

He’s worked with his swing coach, Danny Stewart, on all phases of the game, with an emphasis on fundamentals and repetition.

 

“This will make me a better golfer,” Scott said. “It will make me a lot better in the long run.”

 

Clemson coach Larry Penley signed four student-athletes on the first day of the early signing period. The list included Kian Rose of Gauteng, South Africa; Sean Curran of New Lenox, Illinois; Andrew Swanson of Bluffton, and Scott.

 

For now, Scott is focused on getting better and refining his game in time for the 2020 Class AAA state championship.

 

“Last year, the timing couldn’t have been worse,” Scott said. “The season was wiped out, and it denied us a chance to win our third straight state title. We couldn’t play and we had to take classes from home. But I worked on becoming a better student and I got stronger because of the time I put in the weight room. That helped me with my club speed.”

 

And soon, it will be full speed ahead for Scott, once he fully recovers from his injury.