ROSEWOOD Golf Club’s latest Single Handicapped Match Play champion gained much more satisfaction than winning for the first time.
Ronan Morgan was delighted to inspire his sons Hayden and Austin to continue playing the sport.
Ronan won the recent Division 1 match play title beating Jason Smith three up with one hole to play in the final.
That came after 32 players started the event on March 9, culminating in the final showdown on April 20 at the 18 hole course.
“I finally put everything together so it was pretty cool,” Ronan said.
“It was the first time I’d really competed in it.”
Ronan only became acquainted with his final challenger the week before during the semi-finals.
Going on to win provided a magic moment for the Rosewood resident.
“It was unreal. I can’t even describe it,” he said.
Former junior member Ronan had previously played at the club without winning a major title.
However, after not playing a lot of golf as a dad with a young family, Ronan became more serious over the past 12 months.
“Last year being a bit older, I thought I better get into golf and have a crack at a few things,” he said.
“ Last year was the first year playing pennants for the Moreton Districts and I thought I’d try it for the match play championship at our local club and try and get myself ready for [the next] pennants season.”
Playing off a handicap of six in the match play series, he surprised himself with his form.
“I never even thought I would actually make it all the way [to the final],” he said.
“Just being competitive was really good for me.
“I wanted to strive towards it, but I never really gave myself a red-hot chance.”
Ronan said beating club champion Tim Woodford in the third round provided a “massive’’ confidence boost.
“He’s a phenomenal athlete and we became really good mates after the first season,” Ronan said.
“We had a really good match and to beat him was the highlight for me.”
Tim praised Ronan’s performance.
“I was four under through 15 holes and he was still beating me. That’s how well he was playing,” Tim said.
“I was having a really good day that day and he was just that one step better the whole round.”
In the final against Smith, who has a handicap of three, Ronan made a terrific start to set up his breakthrough success.
“I went four up through four holes then I started believing I could actually pull it off,” Ronan said.
The former Rosewood State High School student did extra work for the latest event.
“The best thing for me was working hard all week trying to prepare myself,” he said.
“I went down to the golf course probably four times during the week just to do some chipping and putting and work on my stroke.”
That’s where his extra joy emerged – inspiring his two sons who are learning golf.
Hayden is nine and Austin is seven.
“I was trying to show them that if you put in the work, you may accomplish some pretty cool things,” he said. “So, for me, that was my driving force.”
Ronan said all the boys wanted to know when he arrived home was whether dad was winning.
Ronan said Hayden’s delighted reaction at hearing the result provided another magic moment.
“It was unbelievable,” Ronan said.
“As soon as I achieved the goal myself and the excitement, he [Hayden] wanted to sit down and watch the LIV (international] Golf with me and straight away he wants to get back into golf.”
Ronan also hopes to introduce his six-year-old daughter Darcie to golf.
The Division 2 Rosewood match play event was won by Maurice Clem, who defeated Tony Sutton one up.
Liz Nelson is the latest Ladies champion after she beat Sue Curran, also being one up in the final.
But after surging through the latest Division 1 match play event, proud dad Ronan will take more confidence into future tournaments.
