University of Texas standout Pierceson Coody is in the midst of an amazing run in some of golf’s biggest amateur events. For starters, he helped the U.S. win the Walker Cup last month, placed ninth in NCAA Regionals, played part of the NCAA Championships and just competed in the Arnold Palmer Cup last week.
Now the rising senior has finally qualified for the U.S. Open after two agonizingly close calls the past two years. In 2019 at U.S. Open final qualifying in Dallas, Coody missed getting a spot to Pebble Beach by a single stroke, and last year he narrowly missed staying inside the top 7 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings as the top 7 were picked to play at Winged Foot in September.
Now Coody is glad to be in the U.S. Open and he’ll have his father, Kyle, on the bag this week.
“It’s just been dream golf,” Pierceson Coody said of the amazing events he’s played in the last couple months. “All of these things that I’ve gotten to do is something that I’ve thought of since I was 10 or 12 years old when I started playing competitive golf. It’s come so fast and it’s just been a dream come true.”
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That dream continues at Torrey Pines and his father Kyle will continue caddying after looping for him at the final qualifier in Columbus last week. Kyle also looped for his other son, Parker, in his first pro event as well.
“I told Pierceson, I’m the one that got him there (to the U.S. Open) so he can’t fire me. He’s got to take me,” Kyle Coody laughed.
Coody is no stranger to looping in major championships. He did so about 11 times for his father, 1971 Masters winner Charles Coody, at Augusta during the 1990s and until his last competitive Masters in 2006. Kyle was also on the bag for Charles for six of his eight PGA Tour Champions wins.
“I’m having a great time being the caddie, on both sides (for his boys and his father). It’s been a great part of my life,” Kyle Coody said.
As far as this week, Kyle and his wife Debbie arrived on Sunday and he walked the course to get a feel for the loop ahead.
“I’m just really excited about watching my son experience what he’s always dreamed of, and to be a part of it this week,” Kyle Coody said. “Regardless of how the week goes I hope he learns from it. Obviously his dream is to go play golf professionally, and this only will make him better. Just watching that happen is a lot of fun for me.”
For Pierceson, he’s happy to be on the big stage where he can take stock of how he compares to the game’s best.
“I’m excited to see how my game stacks up against the pros and finding where I have strengths and weaknesses compared to their games and then improving upon that,” Pierceson Coody said.
He’s also looking forward to the familiarity of having pops on the bag.
“I think he’s really going to enjoy the week, and I’m going to enjoy the week because of the component of how well he knows my game and everything, it feels comfortable, it feels easy, and I think that’s good,” Pierceson said.
“Sentimentally having my first U.S. Open as an amateur was a big goal of mine and I always knew once I turned pro I would have a caddie and this would be the only time my dad could be my caddie in a major or a PGA Tour event is while I’m an amateur, so it’s definitely something I thought about and I’m glad we both have this opportunity to enjoy it together,” Pierceson said.
Kyle Coody was also on the bag for Pierceson’s “breakthrough” Western Amateur win last August and his first PGA Tour event at last month’s AT&T Byron Nelson.
So why is this father/son duo such a good team?
“It’s because I’m the boss,” Pierceson laughs, “I make my decisions and live or die with them and we work well together and talk through a lot of things, but I think we’re both on the quicker end of pace of play, so we go out there and hit the shots and it either goes our way or it doesn’t.”
And that’s golf for you.