Most 2-year-olds spend their free time playing with toy cars and dolls. Scott Fernandez was not like most 2-year-olds.

Scanning the ski slopes of the Sierra Nevada Ski Resort in Granada, Spain, it was not uncommon to see school children learn to ski, adults try out new slopes and one small toddler confidently coast down small, snowy hills.

This toddler was Scott Fernandez, a boy who was half the size of most people’s skis but significantly more talented than his age suggested.

It started in southern Spain where his father, Fermin, works as a ski instructor at the resort, the biggest in all of Spain.

“He basically started learning to ski when he was learning to walk,” said Julie Fernandez, Scott’s mother. “He was probably 2 and a half years old when he was up on skis.”

With his father teaching him to ski, his mother — who came from a family of golfers — decided to get young Scott into golf as well.

“My dad is a huge fan of golf, too,” Fernandez said. “He kind of picked my name as well. He said, ‘Oh, Scott Fernandez sounds like a good golf name,’ so he’s pretty happy that I picked up golf.”

Equipped with a Little Tikes plastic golf club set, if Fernandez wasn’t skiing, he could be found outside whacking away at golf balls.

“A lot of people used to tell me when I was a little kid I was just crazy into golf,” Fernandez said. “They would give me a bucket [of golf balls] and I would just hit it and hit it, and they would just keep on bringing buckets and I would never stop.”

Fernandez’s early interest in the two sports quickly became more than something to do — they became an obsession.

“In November through March, only skiing; March through October, only golf,” Fernandez said. “So that was pretty much how I grew up.”

By age 10, Fernandez was one of the best skiers in not only his home country of Spain, but in all of Europe.

“I had a few top-10s at nationals, then fourth in an international race with skiers from all around Europe,” Fernandez said. “I won races down where I live, like in the South area of Spain. I was the champion there for a couple years.”

But his talent was not limited to skiing; he was also winning meets and shooting low scores at the same age. A golf tournament win here, a ski race win there; winning was in Fernandez’s blood. But skiing was beginning to wear and tear on his body.

Taking a toll

Before he was even a teenager, he had already broken both of his legs in skiing accidents. He continued to race successfully, but something started to change in the preteen boy.

“I started racing really scared,” Fernandez said. “You have to be crazy, you can’t have any fear because as soon as you have fear that’s when you start falling over.”

Falling over and getting injured was a small price to pay for most skiers. But Fernandez was not most skiers, he was also a golfer who couldn’t compete if he injured himself on the slopes.

“I was starting to get afraid, because golf national championships were close to the skiing [championships] so if I fall over skiing, I won’t be able to make it,” Fernandez said.

That all changed one day at the age of 14.

While he was playing a national tournament in Spain, his little sister, Gina, was watching on the sidelines with her baby doll. The girl attracted the eye of a scout from one of Spain’s most prestigious national schools, IES Ortega y Gasset, in Madrid.

“’That’s a pretty doll,’” Mrs. Fernandez said, recounting the exchange. “’What are you here for?’”

Mrs. Fernandez said Gina told the scout that she was watching her brother play before pointing him out.

The scout observed him and immediately liked his swing, even enough to follow him around the rest of the day.

Following the tournament, the scout advised Fernandez to apply to IES Ortega y Gasset when he turned 15. He was told that the school, only accepting six male golfers in Spain, would accept him immediately.

“We joke that Scott may have never gotten in if it were not for that doll,” Mrs. Fernandez said.

For Fernandez, this offer was not an easy one to accept. The same weekend he was asked to go to Madrid to train for golf was the same weekend he was selected as one of two skiers in Spain to race for the national ski team.

“It was a tough decision for me,” Fernandez said. “I really liked both sports. They were pretty much the same value for me for either one. I ended picking the golf meet and I think I made a good choice.” 

Chipping away

While attending school in Madrid, Fernandez saw vast improvement in his golf game, launching him into the national spotlight. Before anyone could doubt his decision to drop skiing, he was selected to the Spanish National Team.

Before stepping foot on Iowa State’s campus, Scott had won a Junior National Championship and was ranked as the No. 2 golfer under 18 in all of Spain.

“I first learned about him from Borja Virto, who was already on the team here at Iowa State when I arrived,” said ISU coach Andrew Tank. “Looking at his video of his game, it became pretty clear to me that he was definitely somebody we wanted to get on the team.”

It had also become clear to Scott that golfing in America would give him the best opportunity to continue his involvement in the sport.

“I heard everyone — my best friends and mentors — telling me the best place to get better is American college tournaments,” Fernandez said. “I got an opportunity with Iowa State with the coach having a Skype conference with me. We went through the program and I was really excited to try something new.”

Fernandez took a year of online courses in Spain before becoming eligible to play for Iowa State, where he had an immediate impact, taking a medal and winning in only his second tournament.

“I expected him to be a good player, but I was definitely surprised when he won that quickly,” Tank said.

And the low scores never let up. Scott broke the school record for lowest freshman score average last year at 73.18. He was second on the team, only behind the then-senior and multiple-school-record holder, Nate McCoy.

This season, Fernandez leads the team with a stroke average of 71.73, which is on pace for the third-best single-season stroke average in ISU history.

Golfweek.com had Fernandez ranked as high as the No. 8 golfer in the nation early this season and he currently ranks as the No. 24 golfer in the country. Earlier in the season, he missed an ISU tournament to play in the World Amateur Team Championships with Spain, finishing 13th individually.

For most collegiate golfers, this list of accomplishments is more than they could ever hope for. But Fernandez is not most collegiate golfers.

“I think he’s going to set a lot of records while he’s here,” Tank said. “He’s certainly on track to have one of the best careers in Iowa State history when it’s all said and done.”