U.S. Amateur’s most important lesson comes from … an accounting professor?

ARDMORE, Pa. — The U.S. Amateur Championship is a proving ground filled with lessons for golf’s youngest stars. But at this year’s edition at Merion East, one important lesson will come not from the Hugh Wilson design on the outskirts of Philadelphia, but from a 34-year-old accounting professor competing for the title.

One whose journey to the U.S. Am is different than most.

Fifteen years ago, Brett Patterson was an ascending collegiate talent as a freshman at Middle Tennessee State University. At 19 years old, Patterson fired a second-round 62 at Hawks Ridge Golf Club in final U.S. Open qualifying to punch his ticket to the 2011 U.S. Open. Rory McIlroy romped to his first major title that week while Patterson shot 77-78 to miss the cut at Congressional.

But to a 19-year-old who had spent his life grinding at an imperfectable craft, earning a spot in the U.S. Open was proof of what the future held. How could it not be?

“At that point, you figure you’re going to play professional golf. Not too much sounds pretentious or anything, but there aren’t a lot of people who made a U.S. Open in their teens,” Patterson told GOLF on Monday at Merion. “That was my thought too. I thought that I had worked hard enough to pursue that.”

Life, like golf, often has other plans.

Patterson suffered an elbow injury that required surgery, and then his game dipped as he prepared to leave college and turn pro. With his game struggling and his mindset poor, Patterson elected to turn away from golf. Instead, he eventually ended up pursuing a Ph.D in accounting from Ole Miss. Once a high-flying, teen golf stud, Patterson decided to stop focusing on the numbers on his scorecard and instead use them to reshape his life and perspective.

But that, in itself, was a journey. It took years for Patterson to come to terms with the fact that his initial plan for life had evaporated. That pro golf, which had always sat on the horizon, was slipping away. It was a hard pill to swallow. Like any young person whose life plan has been hit by a wrecking ball, Patterson struggled to sift through the rubble and find his new path. It eventually came in the form of an accounting degree and a nudge from a mentor to pursue his doctorate. And after five years in Oxford, Brett Patterson, former U.S. Open competitor, became Dr. Brett Patterson, Ole Miss professor.

That change led Brett Patterson to find the happiness he thought he’d discover walking the fairways with the world’s best.

“[My pro dream] did not come to fruition,” Patterson said. “But I’m so thankful that it did not. My position now at Ole Miss as a professor, I’m extremely blessed; it really is a dream job. … Regardless of how I play, it’s just fun to be in this environment on one of the best golf courses in the world. Who cares if you don’t play well? I’m just tickled to death to be here.”

While chasing his Ph.D, Patterson stopped playing competitively and focused on his new path. But eventually, the itch to compete returned, and Patterson has found that being an accounting professor who teaches summer classes, does research and is married with two young daughters has actually been an unexpected boon to his game. Unlike many of his younger opponents this week at Merion, Patterson doesn’t have hours to beat balls, fine-tune his swing and optimize his launch. He has responsibilities and has to be efficient with the minimal time he has on the course. (He plays once a week if he’s lucky.)

“It’s funny how it works,” Patterson said. “With such little time, I feel like you almost use it better. You can’t be unproductive out there. It’s just keeping it simple. Ball position, grip. I don’t worry so much about the technique of the golf swing anymore. I try to dial in my wedge distances more than anything. … I just focus on the little things, the key things. That has helped me tremendously.”

Professor Patterson once spent his days trying to perfect the imperfectable, chasing a dream that few truly get to see materialize. Now, he spends his days in front of a classroom of students who used to be just like him: young and bold with grand visions for their future, albeit with different end goals. But while his main pursuit is no longer about getting the ball in the hole, Patterson’s transition from golf to accounting has given him a full view of life’s ebbs and flows and how to handle them. His experience in golf, and the difficulties that came with a decision to follow a different dream, have shown him that a tough ending can be a beginning you need if you’re willing to take a haymaker or two on the way.

“It really is a tough subject, like learning a different language,” Patterson said of accounting. “Comparing that to golf, you have to put the time in. You’re going to come across some difficulty and some tribulations — I tell my students this all the time — but I promise in the long run, if you keep applying yourself, it’s going to pay off. As with anything in life, that’s the case. ”

Patterson’s opening round at Merion was rocky. He bogeyed his opening hole — the 11th— and was six over through 14 with a few three-putts. But he reeled off back-to-back birdies at seven and eight before parring nine and 10 to post a four-over 74.

In a past life, an opening-round 74 would’ve left Patterson fuming. He would’ve stewed over costly three-putts and gone to the range to blow off some steam. That was when he thought the numbers on his scorecard were everything.

Now, he realizes life has more to offer and that the 19-year-old who set a U.S. Open final qualifier on fire would’ve benefited from knowing the lessons life eventually dealt him.

“Enjoy the ride. Don’t sweat it,” Patterson said of what he’d tell his 19-year-old self. “Golf is such a minor part in the grand scheme of life. I knew at the time I was blessed to be [at the U.S. Open], but golf is so hard. Anytime you get an opportunity to compete at a high level, just soak it up instead of trying to be perfect with everything.

“You play in the U.S. Am, inevitably there’s some pressure there, but I feel like I have a lot better perspective than 19-year-old Brett. Shooting 74, it’s OK. We got plenty of golf left tomorrow, and I know that I’m capable of shooting a good one. We’ll see where that stacks up.”

Patterson, who won the Mississippi Amateur to punch his ticket to Merion, his seventh U.S. Amateur, has to be back in class, teaching the finer points of accounting on August 24th.

But before he returns to his full-time life as Dr. Patterson, he’ll try to go low on Tuesday at co-host Philadelphia Country Club to make the cut for match play and give himself a shot at the Havemeyer Trophy. That’s the ultimate goal this week at a golden-age gem outside of Philadelphia — a reminder of what Brett Patterson thought life would be like. He’s grateful that his destiny was something different, so he can enjoy whatever comes.

“It just goes by so quick, so I’m trying to soak in every minute here,” Patterson said.

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