The Craigavad 2022 Review

| Feature |

| Feature |

Stateside

A Fantastic Year for Fin! 2022 will be a year to remember for Royal Belfast Junior golfer Fin Eager. The Rockport student has had a stellar year, culminating in a call up for Ireland in the autumn.

by Zoë Miller

At the beginning of August, I fulfilled my desired future and headed off to Kansas, to start my student life, on a four year golf scholarship whilst completing my degree. University life in America is busy as a student athlete. The semesters run from the mid of August until the end of December and then from the middle of January until the end of May, with examinations at the end of both semesters which are crucial you pass to retain your scholarship. Athletes are advised to arrange their classes in the mornings, to free up their time to concentrate on their training in the afternoon and evening. This means classes can start at 7.30am! Not to mention the 6.45am gym sessions! Food is included as part of my sports scholarship, providing breakfast, lunch and dinner, in the athlete’s cafeteria, ‘The Caf’! Sometimes these meals can be questionable and sadly there are no Royal Belfast chicken buckets on offer! But it does give you one less thing to worry about and I haven’t had to challenge my cooking skills yet! I have an amazing coach who looks after everything for us. From collecting us from the airport, to organising golf training, gym sessions, team building and all our tournaments. The university offers excellent facilities for the student athletes. There is a fully equipped gym, wellbeing centre as well as having free access to a physical trainer/physio and counsellor/ psychologist. There is a golf course close by where we spend most afternoons, either playing a round of golf, working on different aspects of our games at the driving range, short game practice areas, or doing skill drills. The golf team consists of up to ten players, but only five players are chosen to compete in each tournament, making practice competitive and challenging. I have been fortunate to have been chosen for all my tournaments so far. This competitive experience has helped me to obtain many resilient qualities which prepares me for the tournaments. The tournaments can be anywhere in America. Our first semester we played mainly in Kansas and Colorado.

when Fin had a taste of professional golf when he was invited to play in the Europro event at Clandeboye. Unfortunately Fin missed the cut but the experience will only hold him in good stead for the future. The Eager family have a long association with Royal Belfast and Fin has been under the tutelage of our Professional Andrew Ferguson from the start. Fin’s dedication and work ethic is exemplary and Fin can often be seen teeing off before 7.00am on a Saturday morning alongside Senior Cup captain Ryan Gordon so that he can fit in another 18-holes at Clandeboye GC, close to his Conlig home! It’s not all golf for Fin however and he also plays football for Rockport and is studying hard for his GCSEs. Like many young golfers, he now has to spend time in the gym working on the physical aspects of golf which can give you a vital edge as an elite athlete. Fin is a friendly and fun-loving young man and he has represented Royal Belfast impeccably. Andrew, Fin’s parents Thomas and Julie and the Junior Section are proud of Fin’s achievements and we look forward to seeing his golfing career progress in 2023 and beyond!

This was my first experience of the ‘American Road Trip’, where were we packed up the luxury college coach. Tournaments normally run from Monday to Wednesday with a practice round on the Sunday. We play two rounds of stoke play on the first day and a third round on the second day. It has been an amazing to opportunity to play so many spectacular golf courses and to see new places around America, I cannot wait for the spring semester. These tournaments determine which universities qualify for The Nationals, at the end of the season. Student life in an America really embraces the community life, all the athletes support each other by going to their games, so I am a regular at the American Football, baseball, basketball, soccer and volleyball matches, which is a great way to spend your free time. Last week, one of the other students brought me home, to celebrate Thanksgiving with her family on their ranch! Getting to experience the American culture first hand, has been an opportunity I never thought I would have had. I am now the proud owner of a pair of cowboy boots! I am looking forward to coming home at Christmas and getting to play golf at Royal Belfast. I would just like to say thank you to everyone who has supported and encouraged me during the last six months. A special thank you to Andrew Ferguson, for all the inspirational quotes, which have encouraged me through my experience, whilst occasionally having the uphill task of fixing my swing in a last minute video! It makes you realise the world is not as scary or big a place, as you imagine.

Fin represented Royal Belfast in various boys and senior teams including the Fred Daly, Barton Shield and Senior Cup. Fin was also selected for Ulster U16's where he won 3 matches from 3 to help Ulster win the Interprovincial title. He gained his first cap for Ireland at U16 level at the Italian Open and despite food poisoning on the second day, Fin managed to hang in to secure a top 20 spot over the three days. Fin still has another year at this level and he will be focusing on gaining further Irish caps in 2023. Individually, Fin also had a superb year. He won the Ulster U16 Open and Ulster U16 Close, he came 2nd in Irish U16, 2nd in the Connacht U16 and 4th in the Leinster U16. This amazing consistency led to Fin winning the Ireland U16 order of merit – an incredible achievement! Fin also managed to win the Clandeboye Scratch Cup and narrowly missed a double when he was defeated on count back by Stewart McCaw in the Scratch Cup at Royal Belfast. Another highlight came in August

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