In many ways, 2024 was a dream year for Ryan Griffin. He arrived in St. Andrews to take on the Old Course in the final event of the R&A Student Series season, knowing that a strong finish would help secure the number one ranking in the Order of Merit and book his place on the Arnold Palmer Cup team set to battle the United States at Lahinch later that year.
But the week began in difficult circumstances and he arrived at the Home of Golf nursing a back injury that he’d picked up.
“I actually hurt it in the gym just before going to St. Andrews,” he said. “And then it became that famous old story of ‘beware the injured golfer’ and I ended up winning at St. Andrews. Then, through the whole summer, it was a case of managing it and I was never really 100% – at most 75 or 80 – and then I had another little bump in Lahinch.”
That bump in Lahinch he references actually came in the South of Ireland Championship – not in the Palmer Cup – where he’d been leading strokeplay qualifier and advanced through the first matchplay stage but then had to pull out.
“You have to look at the silver lining of it all,” he explains, “because if I’d played on, I could’ve lost badly in the next round and not gotten picked for Home Internationals the following week and that ended up being a fantastic week over in Scotland, despite lost clubs and luggage and all that, to beat England in that crazy, clutch last half-hour on the third day was incredible.”
Before any of this, he had to face some of the leading amateur players in the world over three days of matchplay in the Palmer Cup. Ideally, he’d have rested and allowed his back to heal but it was too good an opportunity to miss.
“I couldn’t give myself a couple of weeks to rest, and I remember taking pain killers and ibuprofen to get myself around, but at that stage, I’d almost gotten used to managing it. And if you look at the players that were playing in it – Jose Luis [Ballester] was on our team and he was playing in The Masters last week. He might’ve made headlines for the wrong reason by taking a pee in the creek, but plenty of us could make the same sort of headlines for the wrong reasons too.
“That moment Kate [Lanigan] and I had on the first day, winning the match on 18, you’re always going to have those memories and that’s something you can use to remind yourself that your golf game is good enough to compete with the very best amateurs in the world.”
Following the Home Internationals, he underwent surgery in early November and has spent most of the intervening period rehabbing, actually returning ahead of schedule to make one final appearance at St. Andrews in his final Student Series event before graduating from Maynooth University.
“I was able to get back putting at the end of February,” he said, “and this week [the West of Ireland Championship] was the week that I had earmarked to get back playing for but thankfully things went better that we’d hoped and I was able to play in St. Andrews. It was a real fitting way to end my college career and there was nowhere better.
“It’s such an unbelievable place and if every time you go back there you can reminisce that this is a place you’ve done well before and lifted silverware before, it’s huge. It adds to the magic and nostalgia of the place. And everyone there is golf mad. It’s the only place in the world where you’re not looked at sideways if you’re walking down the street with a set of golf clubs on your back.”
Arriving in Rosses Point for the Connolly Motor Group West of Ireland Championship having played one tournament in six months would hardly be ideal preparation, but he feels his game is sharp enough and the fact that he’s pain-free for the first time in a year is more than just an added bonus.
“Having that week in St. Andrews, I knew there was going to be rust, but I saw where the strengths were, saw where work needed to be done, and I’ve been doing that. I’m happy enough with where I’m at,” he explains.
“And the great thing about playing here, if you qualify to matchplay, it doesn’t really matter what you do as long as you’re doing it a little better than the guy you’re playing. That’s the mindset you have to put yourself in. And especially here in Rosses Point, the guy who knows where to miss it will do quite well.”
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