There’s no perfect time to win. A win is a win and its magnitude shouldn’t be quantified by time. But if you are going to pick up your first collegiate victory on American soil, you might as well do it in your final year.
Hilton Templepatrick’s JJ Logue won the Derrall Foreman Invitational in style as he romped to a whopping twelve-shot win.
Rounds of 68, 67, 67 saw the 24-year-old sprint clear of the field to pick up his maiden win at Cleveland Country Club and he was delighted to get the monkey off his back.
“I hadn’t won a tournament yet so it was kind of bugging me a little bit. The standard out here is really, really good. It feels like you can’t afford to have a bad stretch in any tournament, you have to keep it even the whole time to have a chance to win.
“In that tournament it was blowing 20 to 30 miles an hour so it was just really tough. I was keeping the ball in front of me the whole time and just flight the ball and try not to make any dumb mistakes and make up and downs when I missed a green.
Logue is studying kinesiology which is the study of human movement in sports in MS College (Mississippi College) having played junior college golf in Arizona and he feels his game has improved tenfold since the move.
“It’s pretty good, we use around four courses. The courses in Mississipi are actually really good. I wasn’t sure what they would be like but I really like them. I played junior college golf in Arizona for a couple of years before I moved here.
“It’s a completely different set up, different part of America, the people are different, the courses are different and the grass is different so it was good to see that because Mississipi is all bermuda so you get a lot of grain. It was a struggle at the start with chipping and putting but I’ve got used to it now.
“We play a really good schedule too which is nice. Our facilities are really good. It’s more of having the pressure of playing for your spot on the team. Luckily I have been playing well so I have cemented it in a way but at the same time you want to play well in tournaments. We have coach walking around in tournaments watching us.
“It is a really good set up compared to just playing the normal circuit back home.
“It changed the way I chip, my technique, the ball sits pretty nice on the grass at home. Here the strike has to be perfect into the grain and it changes the trajectory on shots, everything comes in lower out here. Small things like that I feel it has made my technique better.”
Logue is the son of Eamonn, the Head Professional at Hilton Templepatrick Golf Club and he is looking to follow in his father’s footsteps when he turns pro in May.
A stint on the Florida Minor League Golf Tour beckons for Logue who hopes he can have the same success that fellow Northern Irishman Tom McKibbin had when he won his maiden professional tournament in January 2022.
“I want to turn pro in May. I’m going to try stay Stateside and play tournaments over here. I’ll try play on the Minor League Golf Tour in Florida. It’s a really good tour and some of the Latin guys and Canadians play there.
“It’s a pretty good tour, I played one of the tournaments there last year and did pretty well. The set up is really good, they do a really good job at them.
“I’ll try some Q-School’s at the end of the year.”
Logue, looking to strike while the irons are hot.
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