Men's Golf Feature: Brett Barron Set for Another NCAA Championship Run

STATESBORO – Brett Barron will never forget where he was when he heard the news.

It was the second tee box at Mystic Creek Golf Club. He had just made a knee-knocking 4-footer for birdie on 1 to halve the hole with Little Rock’s Logan Pate and send their match to the 20th hole. Barron was focusing on his next shot and continuing his little pep talk to himself when he overheard somebody say, “I think it’s over.”

He looked up and glared at teammate Wilson Andress, the super-sub for the weekend, for confirmation. Andress gave him a nod in the affirmative.

“At that moment, just sheer excitement hit me,” Barron recalls. “Like, I forgot to even go and shake Logan’s hand. We had a really good match going, and he's a fifth-year and we were talking all day and he was a really nice guy. My emotions were going everywhere, and Wilson's like, ‘Go shake his hand.’ I gave him a hug because I know what it's like to be in the finals and just barely lose. He made an awesome comeback down the stretch. Once I shook his hand, I started sprinting down the fairway even though Wilson had a cart. I sprinted all the way down 1. I just had to get something out that we actually did it.”

Video of the duo in their cart speeding through the woods to their teammates on 17 with Barron triumphantly waving his hat aired on ESPN+ and made the rounds through social media. There were plenty of reasons for Barron to come back for a fifth year, but that exact moment might well have been at the top of the list.

The youngest of six children, including four older sisters, Barron began playing golf at the age of six. When he started playing 18-hole rounds, he played seven days a week. He played Tuesday through Sunday at his home Club, the Atlanta Athletic Club, and on Mondays, the only day his club was closed, he would go play with his grandfather.

“I would go play with some of the old guys on Monday,” he says. “Some of them are rules officials now so it’s fun to see the guys I played with out on the course at our tournaments sometimes.”

His sister, Courtney, who is 18 years older than Brett, used to caddie for him at junior tournaments from time to time when his father, Chuck, was unavailable. Chuck still will not let Courtney forget how she cost Brett two strokes at one event for leaving the flag stick in the hole when he was putting - back before they changed the rule.

“I was like 12 and I had a 50-plus footer,” Barron remembers. “I knew better but I like to play fast, and the kid I was playing was taking his time. I just hit it with the pin in, and ball goes in and the dad that was caddying for other kid said, ‘Great putt but you just made five,’ and I was like, ‘How?, and he says, ‘It’s a two-stroke penalty for going in with the flag stick in.’ My dad will never let her live that one down, which is pretty funny.”

Chuck and Brett’s mother, Patricia, rarely miss a tournament these days, and his father can often be seen zipping around in a cart with his ear buds in and his iPad out, taking video of and pictures of Brett. The family has a group chat on Snap Chat, which becomes Brett’s personal golf channel when he is competing. His brother, Michael, the oldest and 20 years his senior, is also a contributing reporter for Brett TV.

“My brother will video every shot I take just in case something happens,” says Brett.  “I know if he's there and I do something good, it'll be on tape. And everybody knows my dad with his Beats headphones and iPad. I'm just glad he gets to come out and watch. It's just funny - I enjoy seeing him there.”

Brett TV was in full force at the Sun Belt Championships with Chuck following every shot and Michael screen-shotting video off of ESPN+. They helped keep his sisters in the loop as they are not quite as technologically savvy as the men in the family.

“My brother was sending me pictures and stuff and videos, but I don't think my sisters really know how to work ESPN+ so they weren't really watching,” Brett says with a laugh. “But Mom and Dad were sending them snap chats and such so they knew what was going on. They were very excited for me.”

Barron earned his degree in finance last May after the season was shut down because of COVID-19, and it has always been his goal to play professional golf. When the NCAA decided to give spring sport student-athletes an extra year of eligibility, Georgia Southern coach Carter Collins put on the full-court press. Barron recalls being in the exact same location - on the phone looking out his bedroom window - when he committed as a junior in high school as he was when he informed Collins he would come back for a fifth year.

“I felt like I was in high school again getting recruited,” says Barron. “Luckily, (Director of Athletics) Jared Benko said the school would figure out a way to pay for it, which was awesome because it made my decision so much easier. I just really didn't want to end my senior year like that. It was definitely a tough choice, but I'm really glad I did it because winning conference was something I really wanted to do. It was just a cool moment to commit to him (Collins) again and be able to come back.”

Mason Williams swung his match to his favor at the Sun Belt Championship with a huge 25-footer up the hill for birdie on 15, which led to a 2-UP lead on 17, where the Eagles ultimately won the team title. Meanwhile, Brett had a 3-UP lead with three holes to go and wound up in extra holes. With the huge momentum swings in match play, his putt on 1 helped stem the tide both in his own match and for the Eagles, especially after Pate drained a 12-footer for birdie and a chance to win the match.

“He hit a really good one there, and it made my putt almost a little easier because I didn't have to worry about the next one,” Barron says. “Once I hit it, I knew that it was in, but I could see my heart beating in my shirt. It looked like the wind was blowing it, but it was just I was so nervous. I just didn't want to be that guy that was 3-UP and lost it for us. I just wanted it so bad for me and coach and everyone on the team.”

It was one of many big putts Barron has made throughout his career, both in collegiate and amateur events. The 2018 Georgia State Amateur champion, Barron sent the 2020 tournament to a playoff with a 10-footer on 18 last summer.

“Every time I'm nervous and I have a putt that I need to make, I kind of just revert back to the putt I made in the state Am to get in the playoff,” he says. “Like, ‘I've done this before; I can make this putt.’ It kind of just releases a little bit of pressure, and your hands loosen up just a little bit. You're still nervous but your subconscious is telling you that you can do this.”

Barron will be facing lots of pressure putts next week when he and the Eagles compete at the NCAA Tallahassee Regional, where they hope to advance to the NCAA Finals for the second straight NCAA Championship. He is slated to be in the lineup along with Ben Carr, Luke Dasher, Jake Maples and Williams with Andress serving as the super sub.  The Tallahassee Regional is one of six in the country, and the low five teams and the low individual not on those teams from each regional will advance to the finals, May 28-June 2 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Barron is one of three Eagles, along with Carr and Maples, who helped the Eagles advance from the Stanford Regional to the Finals at The Blessings Club in Arkansas in 2019. He believes success will be predicated on the Eagles maintaining their focus on themselves and sticking to the game plan.

“Play our own game and not worry about what everyone else is doing because when you start doing that, you start firing at pins that you shouldn't and every stroke counts,” he says. “You have to realize that par is a good score. We'll all be prepared for it.”

The competition level within the Georgia Southern program is always high - from practice to drills to qualifying to the tough tournament schedule the Eagles play with loaded fields on difficult courses. Barron credits his extra season at Georgia Southern with putting his golf game in much better place than it was last spring. He plans to get back to pursuing his dream of playing professional golf this summer. For now, he is relishing the opportunity to compete for Georgia Southern.  

“I love the boys and being able to compete and play well with them is more fun than anything I could imagine,” he says with a smile.