By Kyle Jorrey
Sports Editor
Pepperdine sophomore golfer Alex Coe is, to say the very least, a focused individual.
Known by his teammates for the quiet, professional way he goes about his job on the course, the 20-year old has had his sights set on a PGA career ever since his dad encouraged him to pick up his first club at age 7.
At the time, Coe, thanks to his father’s job in retail, was living on the tiny Pacific island of Guam, just recently removed from a five-year stay in Alaska.
“I swam, I played baseball, but golf was my true passion,” Coe said. “I grew up playing on Army and Air Force courses. They weren’t that nice, but that’s where I learned the game.”
Thanks to the unconditional support of his parents, Coe would get plenty of opportunities to work on his swing, often traveling to the U.S. mainland to compete in amateur tournaments when he had time off from school.
“Ever since I was 10, I was playing in tournaments every summer with my mom and two other people,” Coe said. “We lived out of a suitcase for two months going from tournament to tournament.”
Thanks to all the experience, before long, the young Coe was the island’s best golfer, and at age 13, he won his first international tournament.
With his talent-level quickly on the rise, Coe moved with his family to the Bay Area suburb of Danville, where Coe competed for Monte Vista High School. At age 14, it was the first-time the golfer had kept permanent residence in the lower 48 states.
“It was different for me,” Coe said. “I had grown up always being in the minority and now I was in the majority.”
Four-straight league titles and two sectional titles later, Coe was ready to take his game to the next level. He chose Pepperdine for it’s strong golf tradition.
“I want to be a professional golfer, and this is the place I thought I could improve my game the most,” Coe said. “I’ve got good facilities, a good coach and teammates who are great because they push you to get better.
After two years on the Pepperdine program, Coe is starting to produce results. Two weeks ago at the Jim Hackler Invitational in South Carolina, Coe led his squad to the team title by shooting a personal-best, three-round score of 213, good for 3-under-par. The score was good enough to give the sophomore a first place finish, the first of his short college career.
“Alex (Coe) is the hardest worker on the team,” team-captain Michael Putnam said. “He puts in the extra time at practice, as well as a lot of time away from practice. He deserves all the success he gets because of that.”
Even when he isn’t hitting the links in Westlake Village, Coe gets to go home to his parent’s new desert locale, a residential area outside of La Quinta, Calif., (near Palm Springs) appropriately named PGA West. Nothing short of a golfer’s paradise, this exclusive country club is home to six, that’s right, six championship golf courses designed by the likes of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman.
Not surprisingly, Coe takes advantage of the facilities whenever he’s home to see the family.
“I practice golf more than anybody I know,” Coe said. “When I’m at school I’m playing three to five hours a day, and when I’m at home I play all day… I want to be a professional and that’s how you do it.”
In addition to golf, Coe is an avid football fan, or more accurately, an avid Raider fan. While living in the Bay Area, he attended several games and has become a full-fledged member of the “Raider Nation.”
“If you aren’t wearing silver and black, you shouldn’t go,” Coe warned. “(Raider fans) get a trashy rap, but we’re just getting into the game. It’s the best atmosphere in football.”
Despite his all-business approach to the game, teammates say Coe has been known to make others laughs in the clubhouse.
“Alex has a quiet sense of humor, and usually goes by the name ‘Big Softy’ because of his personality.” Putnam said. “He is widely recognized as the softest guy on the team.”
In response, Coe explained the senior had a nickname of his own.
“He’s a big, muscular guy, so we call him ‘Tons of Fun,’” Coe joked.
Aside from his sights on a career in the PGA, Coe has high expectations for the Waves’ as a team. With Pepperdine’s most recent victory in South Carolina, Coe said his teammates got an idea of their unlimited potential.
“I think we are moving in the right direction,” he said. “We saw that when we all play well together we blew everyone else out of the water. We have the talent.”
With more than two months left until the NCAA Championships April 1 to 4 in Hot Springs, Va., Coe said he and his teammates are focused on one goal.
“We just want the chance to play for a national championship said,” Coe said.
In the midst of all his seriousness, all his focus and all of his hard work, Coe said he is still just another athlete who lives to play their sport, and be the best at it. When asked if he had ever imagined himself at Augusta National putting to win the Master’s during practice on the greens, Coe was quick to answer.
“All day, everyday,” the sophomore said. “If you don’t do that, imagine yourself performing at the highest level, then what’s the point?”
Submitted March 25, 2004