Ole Miss Accounting Professor Patterson a Rebel With a Golf Cause

Fifteen years ago, Brett Patterson never envisioned himself being in front of college students lecturing on such things as balance sheets, income statements, equity and liabilities.

Certainly not after shooting a second-round 62 at Hawks Ridge Golf Club in final U.S. Open qualifying on “Golf’s Longest Day” to earn a tee time at Congressional Country Club. Despite shooting rounds of 77-78 and missing the cut, the then-19-year-old rising sophomore at Middle Tennessee State relished every moment, believing in a few years he’d be regularly competing against these world-class golfers.

Instead, his life journey featured three different letters. Replace PGA with Ph.D.

Elbow surgery and a disappointing senior season in Murfreesboro led to Patterson choosing a career involving numbers, just not the ones scribbled on a scorecard. More than a decade later, the 34-year-old now spends his days teaching accounting at the University of Mississippi, the school where he obtained his Ph.D. two years ago. He’s still playing high-level golf, but almost exclusively against amateurs.

In June, Patterson punched his ticket to the 126th U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club by winning the Mississippi Amateur by 11 strokes over Jake Moffit, the 2025-26 Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year from Southern Mississippi University. Moffit, the defending champion, had won the previous year by 10 strokes.

This will be Patterson’s 17th USGA championship and seventh U.S. Amateur, the fourth since graduating from MTSU in 2015. Three years ago, at Sleepy Hollow Country Club, he advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Mid-Amateur while still working on his Ph.D. in accounting. And he and ex-MTSU teammate Payne Denman have qualified for three U.S. Amateur Four-Balls. Denman, a former college assistant coach at MTSU, Tennessee and South Florida, won the Tennessee Amateur for a third consecutive year and will be joining his buddy at Merion.

“Brett is one of the smartest and hard-working guys I've been around,” said Denman. “I honestly don't know how he does it. He has a great support system with his wife Abby and his parents, Todd and Lori. They are all awesome people. Life and golf are all about balance. He's figured out a way to balance it all and it’s impressive to say the least.” 

Like most mid-amateurs, Patterson, a father of two young girls (Evelyn, 3, and Reese, nearly 7 months) tries to squeeze in golf between lectures, research and family time, which includes his wife and fellow MTSU grad Abby. In January, the family experienced a scary moment after Reese’s birth, thanks to a bizarre ice storm that hit the Magnolia State. Patterson carefully navigated his 4-wheel drive vehicle on what normally is a 55-minute drive (it took 2½ hours) from Tupelo back to Oxford on a slick highway.

Everyone got home safely.

Once the temperatures rose and spring arrived, Patterson was back balancing his time in the classroom with a calculated practice regimen. Putts and wedge work occupy most of his time at the golf course. If he’s lucky, he’ll get in one round per week.

Fortunately, in 2026 the tournaments have come at perfect times. When he won The Snedeker, a mid-amateur event held each March in Point Clear, Ala., started by 2026 U.S. Senior Open low amateur Haymes Snedeker (older brother of PGA Tour winner Brandt Snedeker), it was on the heels of spring break. He defeated 2013 USA Walker Cupper Bobby Wyatt in a playoff.

When he claimed The Giles, another mid-amateur competition held at Kinloch Golf Club, in suburban Richmond, Va., started by two-time USGA champion Marvin “Vinny” Giles, it came between the end of spring classes and finals week. Then in June, a couple of teaching assistants (TAs) graciously took over his Intermediate Financial Accounting I summer class during the Mississippi Amateur.

“The misconception with being a professor is you have summers off,” said Patterson, who is inside the top 300 of the World Amateur Golf Ranking®/WAGR®. “I mean you have the option to [do that]. But between teaching [three summer classes], which I voluntarily took on in June and July, and then we have research requirements too. You really have to treat it as a 9-to-5 full-time job throughout the summer and try to be productive.

“If I can get out three to four times a week leading up to the tournament, just in terms of hitting balls and putting, then play once a week, then I’m doing a darn good job [of managing my time].”

Going the accounting route was something Patterson chose after earning his first undergraduate degree in business administration. While taking an extra year of classes at MTSU for his accounting degree, he befriended Mark Jobe, a professor who became a mentor and eventually encouraged him to earn a Ph.D. He had taken a public accounting job with a large firm (LBMC) in Nashville, Tenn., before he being accepted into the program at Ole Miss.

Five years later – three years of classes and then two more to work on his dissertation – Dr. Patterson was an accepted member of the Ole Miss faculty.

One thing Patterson quickly discovered is that accounting and golf have some similarities, especially when it comes to teaching/mentoring young students. Both have their ebbs and flows, and mistakes can and will happen. Patience is paramount. So are good fundamentals.

“I thought for the longest time that I had my life set out and before me, and these plans were going to work in a certain way,” said Patterson. “I try to translate to my students. This stuff is hard. You’ve got to apply yourself. There are no shortcuts to success.

“I also try to let them know at the end of the day, it boils down to the amount of time you put into it. Sometimes it doesn’t translate up front, but I promise in the long run, if you keep these daily habits, it going to pay off.”

Being at a large university with a strong athletic program, one might think Patterson would eventually have a golfer in one of his accounting classes. While he has played occasionally with members of the team, most have told him accounting is too difficult for their liking. But he has had athletes from other disciplines matriculate, including 2022 baseball star Tim Elko, the first baseman who hit 24 home runs in leading the Rebels to a memorable run to the College World Series title after being one of the last at-large teams.

“A pleasure to have in class,” said Patterson of the Chicago White Sox’s 10th-round selection in the 2022 Major League Baseball Draft. “He took my Accounting Principles II course. He was a business major. He’s a living legend in Oxford. He came to class every day, just doing what he was supposed to do and acted like he cared.”

Current Ole Miss golfer Collins Trolio, the younger brother of 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur runner-up/2019 U.S. Amateur semifinalist Cohen Trolio, has inquired about taking one of Patterson’s classes. Perhaps he can convince him while at Merion after the rising senior qualified in Florida last month.

This fall, Patterson is expected to have some 300 students in his three classes covering Financial Accounting (Intermediate I and II).

Like an experienced accountant, he’ll meticulously plan for those lectures and prepare to answer hundreds of student emails.

But before the leaves begin to turn and The Grove is overrun by thousands of students, Patterson has his sights firmly set on the challenge of Merion Golf Club and stroke-play co-host Philadelphia Country Club. He got a small taste of the talent he’s up against at last month’s Southern Amateur held at Atlanta Athletic Club, in Johns Creek, Ga. At nearly 7,500 yards, it was a brute for Patterson, who finished 46th.

“You go from feeling 34 and not too old to feeling 74 really quick,” he said.

Fortunately, neither of the two venues for this year’s U.S. Amateur will be that long. Patterson relies more on exquisite course management and precision over power, something that will come in handy, especially at Merion.

Patterson’s entire family is making the trek to the Northeast, with dad, Todd, serving as his caddie. His wife and mom will be among his support group. Todd, a former ROTC officer who worked for a logistics company, introduced Brett to the game at age six in McMinnville, Tenn., and he became hooked. At MTSU, Patterson was an All-Sun Belt Conference performer as a sophomore and junior (he redshirted one year due to elbow surgery).

But outside of that U.S. Open start in 2011, Patterson’s game didn’t blossom until he joined the mid-amateur ranks. The Mississippi Amateur title was his first, although he won consecutive Mississippi Mid-Amateurs in 2024 and ’25. What changed?

Better practice habits and sticking to the fundamentals, the same principles he uses in teaching accounting.

Patterson was once like the college kids beating thousands of balls daily. Now that he can no longer follow that schedule or hit the ball prodigious distances, he makes simple adjustments. It’s worked. He’s now among the world’s top 50 mid-amateurs.

“Keeping it simple has definitely translated into better golf,” said Patterson, who doesn’t look back with any regrets. “It’s funny how that works. You have to get the ball in the hole [in the fewest shots]. It’s not a game of perfect.”

That’s what he’ll attempt to accomplish at Merion against the best field in amateur golf. While a mid-amateur hasn’t hoisted the Havemeyer Trophy in 33 years (John Harris), the last time a player in his age category reached the semifinals occurred on those hallowed grounds was in 2005 when Austin Eaton III made the final four. Patterson knows the odds are long.

But those are numbers this accountant can fathom.

David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.