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SEA ISLAND, GEORGIA | As Davis Thompson nursed a three-stroke lead early in the final round of the Jones Cup Invitational two Sundays ago, his pursuers hoped in vain for the slightest of openings. Any slip-up or momentary lapse in concentration would do.
Thompson, a 6-foot-3 junior at the University of Georgia, gave no quarter. He strolled around Ocean Forest Golf Club with a Brooks Koepka kind of cool, melting the typically difficult course with sublime ballstriking. In the rare moments when danger arose, like when he found himself with a downhill lie in the greenside bunker at No. 4, Thompson answered with stoic conviction. And when no one challenged him on the first handful of holes, Thompson proceeded to lap the field by making six birdies in the span of seven holes.
The proverbial planting of the flag came during the middle of that barrage on the tee at the par-5 10th when Thompson, fresh off three consecutive birdies that put his lead at five strokes, smashed a driver over the corner of a hazard to turn the dogleg right into a glorified par-4.
It wasn’t just Thompson saying “game over” at the Jones Cup, all while setting a tournament scoring record – it was a fearless declaration that he could become the next in a long line of Georgia Bulldogs who have enjoyed sustained success on the PGA Tour. That may be a daunting statement for a college player who has yet to embark on his professional journey, but statistics support the hype. Thompson has ascended to No. 4 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, finished tied for 23rd at the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic last fall and medaled in the stroke-play portion of the 2019 Western Amateur. He’s been sensational in recent college events, winning the NCAA Athens Regional last spring before rattling off four consecutive top-10 finishes in the fall, including a victory at the Jim Rivers Intercollegiate. As the 2020 spring season starts next week at the Puerto Rico Classic, Thompson is featured on most everyone’s player-of-the-year short lists.
But more than the results, Thompson passes the eye test. He’s mild-mannered and soft-spoken, all while his game has an attractive combination of power and poise. There are no guarantees when it comes to a 20-year-old kid, but his perspective is as simple and direct as the way he plays golf.
“It’s cool to be recognized for playing well but at the end of the day, I’m not trying to play good golf for rankings,” Thompson said. “I’m playing to win trophies and win tournaments. And I’ve got a lot of work to do to get better.”
His run of success is a bit of a surprise given that two years ago at this time, Thompson ranked No. 1,828 in the world while struggling as a freshman at Georgia. It doesn’t take much to be overshadowed in a powerhouse program, but Thompson admitted he needed more time than most to become acclimated to college.
Once he did, everything came together. During his sophomore year, he appeared in every tournament and finished with a 70.97 scoring average, good for ninth all-time in the UGA record books. That led into his current tear for the past eight months.
“Looking back, it makes a lot of sense,” Thompson said. “I don’t really handle change well, and it was different moving from home to Athens. It takes me a while to get used to things and that freshman year I needed to learn how to live on my own. I would have liked to have played better my freshman year, but it’s just kind of who I am.”
His head coach, Chris Haack, put it this way.
“He was a little bit raw in that he had a few things to work on fundamentally,” Haack said. “When he got into battle and we were coming down the stretch, his swing would get really fast, so we needed him to stay within himself. He’s an unbelievably nice and polite kid who tries to make sure whatever he does, he does it right. Now that he is in Year 3 and he’s learned, I see nothing but good things for him.”
“It’s cool to be recognized for playing well but at the end of the day, I’m not trying to play good golf for rankings. I’m playing to win trophies and win tournaments. And I’ve got a lot of work to do to get better.”
Davis Thompson
Thompson grew up in Auburn, Ala., and briefly considered playing for hometown Auburn University, but his family allegiance rested eastward with another Southeastern Conference school; Thompson’s father, Todd, was captain of the Georgia golf team in the late 1980s, and his son grew up a passionate fan of the school. As a 12-year-old, Thompson played a junior event at the school’s University Golf Course, where he met Haack for the first time.
“I just remember shaking his hand and thinking, ‘Man, how cool would it be to go to school here?’ ” Thompson recalls.
Todd Thompson also molded his son’s future in another way, as he coached the Lee-Scott Academy golf team where Davis started as a seventh grader and won six team state championships along with two state medalist honors.
The younger Thompson’s voice changes when he talks about the relationship with his dad, a part of his life that has greatly influenced whom he has become as a golfer.
“It’s always meant more than golf with him,” Thompson said. “I remember when we won the first state championship, I was just a young kid at the time and we all went and celebrated at Steak ’n Shake, which was awesome. But the last one was probably more emotional for me. I ended up in the last group and I finished on 18 and he was watching from the fairway, so it was pretty emotional seeing everything come to an end.
“When it came time for college, he always told me it was my decision to make. He didn’t want to have a stake in it. But I grew up a huge Georgia fan and when I came here, it felt like home.”
Thompson’s family bought a home in St. Simons Island, Ga., in April 2018 in part to help with his golf development, a move that’s put him in the same circles as Harris English, Keith Mitchell and Hudson Swafford, all Georgia alums who play the PGA Tour. Thompson also has forged an important relationship with Brendon Todd, the recent tour winner who lives in Athens near campus and often plays with the team.
Professional leaderboards across major tours are littered with players who have been through Haack’s program. That’s another indicator that Thompson might reach the highest level.
With Thompson’s resounding Jones Cup victory, Haack said he saw something particularly encouraging about his play – something top professionals are able to do – that could pay dividends in the future.
“He had a couple of tournaments in the fall where he had a chance to win and if anything he gave those opportunities away,” Haack said. “But I know he has worked really hard on trying to maintain confidence coming into important stretches of events. He told me after (winning) he just wanted to continue to attack flags and not get cautious, which he was able to do.
“I think he’s learned a few things about handling pressure, and if so, that bodes well for us.”
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