Harris, Brown Hope to Lead Teams to NCAAs 

By CRAIG DISTL

            Buoyed by strong showings this summer, two college golfers from the Triad enter their junior seasons with high expectations. Walnut Cove’s Derek Brown (UNC Wilmington) and Clemmons’ Jason Harris (East Carolina) both have their sights on one prize – advancing to NCAA regional play.

            Based on their all-conference performances as sophomores and summer full of successes, that goal is well within reach.

            Brown, whose UNCW squad missed an NCAA regional bid by one spot last spring, caught fire over the summer. He won the N.C. Amateur Championship at Forsyth Country Club, advanced to the semifinals of the Carolinas Amateur, and finished an impressive 16^th among an elite field in the Rice Planters Invitational in Charleston, S.C. Brown shot 67-67-70-69—273 at the N.C. Amateur, and 73-71-71-73—288 at the Rice Planters.

“He played exceptionally well all summer – he basically just had one bad round all summer in all the tournaments,” said UNCW coach Grant Robbins. “Inconsistency has kind of been a problem for him, but toward the latter part of the spring he became more consistent. He started showing signs of that in mid-March … and it carried over to the summer and I’m hopeful it will carry over to this year. I’m hopeful he’ll have a breakout year.”

Brown credits his recent surge to improvements in his chipping and putting. His short game had been a nemesis, but now it’s an asset.

            “I just started hitting the ball real well and my short game started coming together,” Brown said. “I had struggled with my short game a little bit until this summer.”

            Meanwhile, Harris experienced a nice summer of his own. The East Carolina junior won the Forsyth Invitational (66-68-69—203), finished tied for second at the N.C. Amateur (69-68-71-69—277), qualified for the U.S. Pub Links Amateur Championship, and placed 15^th in the Cardinal Invitational.

“He enjoyed a good summer,” ECU coach Kevin Williams said of Harris. “He’s a real solid player. His biggest attribute is he hits it right down the middle and can play the tight courses, but he can play the long courses, too.”

            Like his buddy Derek Brown, Harris spent a lot of time honing his game over the summer. That also included some serious work on his short game.

“I worked very hard on my game throughout the summer to get it in the type shape that I want for this upcoming year, especially in the fall,” said Harris. “People say the fall schedule is not as important, but those are tournaments just like the spring. They count the same.”

Harris is determined to avoid a repeat of his sophomore season, when he struggled a bit in the fall. He’s already circled the first two events on the Pirates’ schedule – the Mid Pines Intercollegiate on Sept. 9-10, and the Carolina First Intercollegiate on Sept. 23-24 at the Country Club of South Carolina in Florence.

While East Carolina didn’t have the season it hoped for last year team-wise, Harris played well individually. In fact, he barely lost out on making NCAA Regionals as an individual. The final individual spot went to a kid from Charleston Southern who posted a 1-1 record against Harris, but was three strokes better in their total score.

            “Jason averaged 73.0 last fall and finished the year at 72.5,” said his coach. “His putting kind of let him down in the fall, so I think he’ll come out with guns blazing and have a legitimate shot at make the NCAAs as a individual if we don’t make it as a team.”

 For Brown, his best chance last year of making NCAA Regionals was with his team. He played No. 2 for the Seahawks to Adam Gee, and the team wound up one place away from getting an at-large bid. The NCAA considered UNCW, Georgia Southern and Furman for the final two spots. Georgia Southern and Furman made it, despite the fact that UNCW had a winning record head-to-head against Furman.

“I think we have a real good team this year; we’ve got everybody coming back,” Brown said. “I just try to go out there and play my best and never give up. Even in you’re playing bad to start with, you can always get it back towards the end.”

Brown says his goals are three-fold – help UNCW make NCAA Regionals, win the individual championship at the Colonial Athletic Association tournament, and finish in the top 50 in the individual collegiate rankings.

“He finished up as our No. 2 man last year and we have everybody coming back,” said coach Robbins. “He and Adam Gee will be fighting it out for No. 1 this year. They are both are very close individually.”

Harris is also eyeing a team bid to NCAA Regionals for East Carolina, which competes in a tough league, Conference USA. C-USA is loaded with powerful programs such as Houston, TCU, Louisville and Southern Miss. And Charlotte and South Florida are on the rise.

            “The first order of business is – it’s team sport. The team is the most important thing,” explains Harris. “Everybody wants to play well for themselves, but that in effect will help the team. There’s nothing that I would like more than to make it to postseason play.

            “I feel like we have a very, very good shot of getting to regionals. We’re only losing one guy from last year (Frank Adams III) and we’ve got a couple of guys coming in that can help the team. I feel very, very good about our chances for the next couple of years. I think we have a very good shot of winning multiple tournaments this year.”

            Harris does keep individual goals in mind, but they are down the road a bit, and only after graduation.

            “Becoming a PGA Tour professional is my goal, but one thing I will do is get a degree,” said Harris, a business administration major. “I promised my parents that I will get a college degree before I turn pro, and I’m going to keep that promise.”

            Although they play in different conference, Harris and Brown cross paths several times each year in various tournaments. They’ve known each other since their early teens, when they met playing junior tournaments in the Triad and on the Triad Golf Today Junior Tour.

            They’ve struck up a friendship, and both believe the other is capable of great things during the 2002-03 season.

            “Derek has a good head on his shoulders. He’s got a good attitude,” said Harris. “I think his chances to play well this year are very good. He had a great summer. He probably thinks it could have been a little bit better, but overall I think he’ll have a good season coming up.”

Brown is equally complimentary of Harris.

Jason’s very consistent. He keeps in down the middle and gets it on the greens,” said Brown. “He makes very few mistakes and not a lot of bogeys.”

UNC Wilmington and East Carolina will face each other five times next spring in various tournaments, but Harris and Brown are hoping for a sixth encounter, one that will be hosted by the NCAA.

“It’d be real nice,” Brown said of making regionals. “Our team has never gone, so it would real nice to get our team there for the first time.”