Scott Simpson named University of Hawaii men’s golf coach

Working with young golfers is nothing new for Scott Simpson, the seven-time PGA Tour winner who was announced as the University of Hawaii’s men’s golf coach Friday.

At the 2006 Sony Open in Hawaii, the 1987 U.S. Open champion caddied for protege Parker McLachlin. Back then, Simpson said he was just doing it to return a favor from a friend since McLachlin had caddied for him previously.

Simpson, 65, was born and raised in San Diego and played college golf at USC, but his ties to Hawaii have been strong for most of his life. At age 16, he won a youth tournament at Mid-Pacific Country Club.

His wife, Cheryl, was born in Hawaii and attended Radford High School. When Simpson began to find success on the PGA Tour, one of his first major purchases was a condo in Hawaii Kai. Since 2014 the Simpsons have lived full-time in Kailua.

“With more than 40 years of professional golf experience, we couldn’t ask for more while searching for a new coach,” UH athletic director David Matlin said. “Scott shares our goals and believes we can field a successful and high quality men’s golf program.

He was an assistant coach for the UH women’s team the past two seasons. Previously, Simpson coached at Le Jardin Academy. He has long been involved with the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association and has tutored many young players sent his way by friend and fellow pro David Ishii. He said he especially likes teaching the mental aspect of golf.

“I’ve always enjoyed helping people get their game better,” he said. “My parents were both schoolteachers, and teaching is something I’ve always wanted to do.”

Golf is widely considered an individual sport, but Simpson has experience as a team member at the highest level: He played on the U.S.’s winning team in the 1977 Walker Cup and on the 1987 Ryder Cup team that lost a tight contest to the Europeans.

Simpson said he patterns his coaching style after Seattle Seahawks and former USC football coach Pete Carroll.

Practices will include creative competitive drills. The men’s and women’s teams will practice together at times, he said.

“My goal is to help our golfers learn, improve and grow in the classroom and on the course. We will work, prepare and compete hard while having a lot of fun,” Simpson said.

Simpson has already received inquiries from local high school players thought to have committed to mainland colleges, he said.

“Hopefully I will be a help with recruiting. We’ve got lots of great golf courses here that have been open to us,” Simpson said. “There’s no reason Hawaii shouldn’t have a really good golf team.”

He hopes to add Waialae Country Club — home of that PGA Tour event where he once caddied after playing in it many times — to the Warriors’ list of home courses.

“I’m going to try hard to get Waialae on our schedule,” he said. “We should be at Waialae. I think it would be a great win-win.”

During his PGA career, Simpson also had 15 runner-up finishes on tour and nine top-10s in majors. His professional wins also include three on the Japan Tour and four Hawaii State Opens, including back-to-back in 1993 and ’94.

Simpson joined the PGA Champions Tour in 2005 and won the 2006 Walmart First Tee Open.

He replaces Ronn Miyashiro. UH announced June 1 that Miyashiro’s contract would not be renewed after 24 seasons.