James Piot: Always Pushing to be Better

BY BOBBY ZEFFERO
For MSUSpartans.com

Michigan State senior golfer James Piot started going to the driving range with his dad when he was four, and was competing in tournaments by the time he was seven. It was clear that Piot had talent for golf, the question was, how far would it take him?

Michigan State men's golf Coach Casey Lubahn recalls Piot's freshman year of high school, where he and his staff saw his clear potential.

"When we watch a kid, you kind of know right away or you don't," Lubahn said. "I think he shot 81 the day that we watched, which is not a good score for him. My assistant coach was watching and he said, 'This is our guy'.

"What we saw right away was a star, even though his score didn't indicate it. But he followed it up the rest of his career. He was always the best player in Michigan in that class."

Piot has always surrounded himself with good competition, sometimes beyond his age and skill set, helping him to improve.

"I grew up playing with a few college kids that were plenty older than me, and when I was out there I wanted to beat them every time. So that kind of drove me to get better every time I was playing to get to that next level," said Piot.

He came to MSU with an already stellar prep and youth golf resume. He led his high school, Detroit (Novi) Catholic Central to three consecutive state championships (2015-17). He was named a four-time Michigan High School Golf Super Team selection, and a two-time team captain.

He was the youngest player in Michigan Amateur history to qualify for match play (2013), and then was a runner-up in the 2014 Michigan Junior Amateur. He won that tournament in 2015, along with AJGA Randy Wise Open and the Michigan Junior PGA Championships in 2016 and 2017.

Piot could have attended college almost anywhere, but he chose Michigan State above others for a simple reason – his heart.

"My brother (Glenn) was actually two years ahead of me, so he was already on the (Michigan State golf) team...I kind of got a sense of how things were because of him," Piot said. "I really like this place, awesome school, the guys on the team are just phenomenal, great facilities, and I kind of made the choice obvious to, even though I was a Michigan fan growing up, to convert sides to Sparty."

Piot was the 2018 Big Ten Freshman of the year (the first since Ryan Brehm in 2005), was First Team All-Big Ten and PING All-Midwest Region honoree for the 2018-19 season, and was a PING All-Region selection and Second Team All-Big Ten for 2019-20.

In his first three full seasons, Piot has never finished outside of the single-season record books for Michigan State. His freshman average score of 72.47 ranks 19th in school history, his sophomore average of 71.49 ranks 2nd, and his junior average of 72.18 ranks 5th.

He has also recorded four top-20 finishes, eight top-10 finishes, two top-5 finishes, and two tournament wins. Both wins were from last season, where James won the Island Resort Intercollegiate title with a career best score of nine-under-par 207 and tied for first at the prestigious Inverness Intercollegiate.

As of Feb. 2, Piot is ranked No. 127 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

GOLF Spartan Collegiate at Sea Island

Pilot also pushes himself in the classroom. He is a two-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Athlete and a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection.

Even with all the accolades, Piot is constantly trying to push himself to be better.

"Learning to be coached was the biggest thing for me. When I first got here, I had the mentality like, 'Hey Coach, I'm going to get it done, don't worry about me, just let me do my thing'," he said. "You learn quick that you don't know everything in sports, and in life. So it was just listening to Coach (Lubahn), knowing that what he says is right and just following a path to success. Every year, just slowly getting better to where I want to be – as far as my golf career, school and everything."

Lubahn said Piot has evolved since the first time he stepped on campus.

"James is a guy who works tirelessly. He's the hardest worker I've ever had, but he was working inefficiently for a long time," Lubahn said. "If you practice a bad habit over and over and over and over, it just gets that much more ingrained. So, as he has developed as a player, he's had to learn how to practice the right things with all that work ethic…

"He's a much better putter than when he got here, and he's managing his emotions better, he's maturing on the golf course. When you start as high as he did, the changes and the positive steps are more incremental."

Piot said he is able to sustain his success in the classroom and on the golf course because he has set clear goals. He wants to go into wealth management fand be an advisor, but that's only if he can't first make it on the PGA Tour.

"I'd say it's a personal kind of motivation thing. I kind of get it from myself, and my end goal is to make it to the PGA Tour and be one of those guys out there and play every week," he said. "I kind of know that if you're sitting around or not putting in the work you're not going to get there. Every day is a day of practice and just doing whatever I have to do to get better every day and that's kind of been my mentality since I got here. I tell Coach every year that, 'Coach, if I'm not an All-American, I'm not hitting my goal.'"

Piot added, "Even though I've had some good years, I haven't hit the goal that I've put in my mind, but in the end it's all about getting better every year which I think I'm doing pretty well, so I can't complain about that, but hopefully this season brings a lot more."

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