The sun hadn’t yet risen when Levi Pettit and his teammates arrived for 6 a.m. workouts at the University of Texas at Dallas. For the men’s golf team captain, these pre-dawn workouts marked the start of marathon days — balancing practice, classes, and the rigorous coursework that earned him magna cum laude honors in finance and economics.
Unlike their Division I counterparts, Pettit and his teammates received no financial aid. Their commitment came from a different source entirely.
“In Division III, there’s no athletic scholarships, there’s only academic scholarships,” Pettit explains. “So everybody who’s playing is really just there because they love the game and they love to compete.”
This distinction, subtle on paper, proved transformative in practice.
The Discipline That Set Levi Pettit Apart
Division III athletics forced Pettit to develop extraordinary time management skills. His golf coach framed the challenge bluntly: “You can have a social life, you can have a successful athletic career, and you can make good grades. But you can’t have all three, so you’ve got to pick two of the three.”
Pettit chose academics and athletics, a decision that meant sacrificing typical college experiences while developing an uncommon discipline. This ability to prioritize ruthlessly later distinguished him in the competitive finance industry, particularly during his pursuit of the notoriously demanding chartered financial analyst designation.
For Pettit, who became a two-time Cleveland/Srixon Academic All-America Scholar, golf’s singular structure provided insights rarely found in team sports.
“Golf is unique because it’s one of the only sports where if you don’t finish first place and you don’t win the tournament, you didn’t win,” Pettit explains. “If you play in a tournament with 100 people, 99 people are going to lose.”
This reality taught him to value preparation above outcomes — a perspective that shaped his approach to investment deals and financial analysis throughout his career progression from commercial banking to investment management.
“The most fun part wasn’t going and playing in these tournaments and winning tournaments,” Pettit reflects. “The most fun part was the work and the preparation to get to game day.”
This emphasis on process translated directly to his work managing a portfolio of private equity and venture capital investments. While closing deals brought satisfaction, Pettit recognizes that “it’s the process that is ultimately going to determine how well your execution was.”
The Competitive Edge in Finance
Finance industry newcomers face a highly competitive field where academic credentials alone rarely suffice. Levi Pettit’s experience suggests that the discipline developed through athletics — particularly in the scholarship-free environment of Division III — can provide a meaningful advantage.
“Finance is really competitive, and so you really have to go above and beyond,” he advises.
For Pettit, this has meant continuous improvement, from his commercial banking beginnings to investment management roles to his current MBA studies at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School. “This continual theme for me over the past decade has just been really driven and dedicated to just continual improvement and never settling,” he says.
His journey demonstrates how seemingly unrelated experiences — competing without athletic scholarships, managing early morning practices alongside academic demands, and learning from both wins and losses on the golf course—can create a foundation for professional resilience that extends far beyond typical career preparation.
Sometimes, the path less traveled provides the better preparation.
