A GOOD WALK
and get a practice round in before the competition as well, so it’s tough on the body - but when you compare it to what the pros do it’s something I’ll have to get used to.’
A niggling back injury kept Alex out of action for a while in the months leading up to the big move, so it was with great relief that he hit the ground running on his arrival in Florida. His 72.43 stroke average for 2019/20 is the second best in FAU freshman history, while his freshman team were the top performers in the whole country, moving FAU’s overall ranking for golf up from 150th to inside the top hundred.
‘I wanted to start off well and I think I came ninth in the first event,’ he recalled. I shot 65 in the last round to get into the top 10 and that was the pivotal result for me so far because if I’d started bad I might not have had the confidence for the next competition.
‘Two weeks later I came top five in West Virginia. I actually had a chance to win there, but unfortunately didn’t get the job done.’
All the while Alex has been trying to keep his feet on the ground, and that was a trait which was drummed into him five years ago when he won the Irish Boys Under-14 Championship.
Looking back on his early memories of golf, Alex recalled: ‘I learned how to play when I was about eight. It was always in my family and they played a good bit of golf and my dad brought me out, but I didn’t take a liking to it at first and I played soccer until I was 14.
‘At 13 I took up golf more seriously and started to play in competitions and to travel the country and I won the Irish Boys U-14 title, and when that happened it gave me the confidence to go on.
‘My dad said at the time it’s great, but nobody really cares about what you do when you’re 14. I had a slow year after that - maybe my head got a bit too big - but I had a very good year in 2017 and got on the Leinster panel, and I made the Irish squad in ‘18 and ‘19.’
Black Bush professional Shane O’Grady coached Alex for more than three years and he then switched to Donal Scott - now based at Carton House - who worked on his putting and mental side of the game. Last year he was able to tick another box on his wish list when he was made Junior Captain at Laytown & Bettystown - and it was a role he took very seriously.
‘Being Junior Captain was something I always wanted to have. It wasn’t a big responsibility, but just to have my name on the wall was a huge thing for me and to know that the club saw me as a role model.
‘I wasn’t trying to do too much, but I wanted to make sure that kids looked up to me, they felt welcome and they had a good experience in the club, whereas if the captain was someone who wasn’t as sociable they they mightn’t want to keep playing.’
Now, of course, Alex finds himself back on home ground - two minutes from the 11th tee at Laytown & Bettystown - where he’s been able to have a proper catch-up with his family, play a bit of golf and reacquaint himself with spice bags!
‘I had an interview over there and the reporter asked me what I missed about home, but they edited out the bit about my family and said I missed spice bags. I had to give the reporter a bit of grief about that!
‘But with Facebook and WhatsApp and everything it makes being away from home a lot easier because you can talk to your family whenever you want.
‘I was fine for a week and a half when I first came home - I was getting out and playing regularly - but then the Government decided to shut golf courses.
‘My dad bought a practice net and I bought a mat, and I kept my swing going, working on technique - but it drove me mental only being able to hit the ball six feet!
‘Thankfully the courses are open again and I’ve been able to get out and play a couple of times.
‘Laytown & Bettystown have been absolutely great for me and my career. The Junior Committee, which my dad was part of, did a whole lot for me, the members wish me well every week and members of the Senior Cup team have been great and have done as much as they possibly can.’
All the while Alex keeps an eye on the fortunes of the top players across the globe, and naturally enough he favours the top Irishmen on the tour.
‘I’ve been known to like Rory McIlroy a lot and I get a good bit of slagging for trying to imitate him - even though I don’t actually do that! People in America have a liking for him because of his craic and personality and he’s probably a great ambassador for Irish golf.
‘Maybe it’s me being patriotic, but I’ve a lot of time for Shane Lowry as well and he’s given me a good bit of advice about how to play the game and to work hard and definitely enjoy it because you don’t want it to become a job.
‘The plan is to get on the PGA Tour - that would be the ultimate - but I have a long way to go and the next couple of years will stand me in good stead to see if I go pro or use my degree and go that way.’