Boy Dunne Good

Tell us about your introduction to golf ...

Greystone was the town I lived in and I got into all different types of sports – football, tennis, GAA [Ed – Gaelic sports] when I was young. My parents were members of a golf club and when I turned ten I joined. They had an academy every Saturday at 4pm for the juniors, so that's when we played competitions and practised. As the summers went on, we started to play every day. I only began focusing on golf at 13 or 14, when I started getting pretty good. When my friends started to fizzle out of the game, when they got older and stopped playing so much, it was the opposite for me. I started to make Irish teams and to play more competitively.

What was it like attending the University of Alabama and being a part of the elite US amateur scene?

It was great. There were two factors that were big for me. Our assistant coach at the time (now head coach) was Alan Murray. He was originally a member of Greystone when he was younger, so I had that Irish influence there. And my roommate for four years, Ryan Davies, was Welsh, so it made the transition a bit easier and I wasn't dropped fully into the deep end! What I liked about it was obviously the weather's very good and it was very competitive. You were living with people on the team and not everybody got to play on the team, so you had to prove yourself. You'd have workouts a couple of times a week in the morning, then you'd have class, then you'd have practise, then you'd get back and study so you didn't have much time to miss home. It got you focused on working hard to get better.

What was the plan when you graduated last April?

Starting my third year in college [of four], my goal was to be an All-American and make the European Palmer Cup team. After that, I played the summer back at home and everyone wanted to make the Eisenhower Trophy team. And then the focus was the Walker Cup team in 2015. Obviously you have week-to-week goals as well, and you try to do your best individually, but that was the longer-term reward for playing well. So when I finished college in April 2015, I played in amateur tournaments to try to do as well as I could and see if I could win something and then play Walker Cup. Turning pro after that was always the plan.

Was there any temptation to turn pro before that point?

There wasn't any temptation until after The Open, when I got some opportunities to play some events, but it wasn't something I took too seriously. I think I'd have regretted it, not playing Walker Cup. Everyone is different. Some people have said that it wasn't the smartest move waiting for the Walker Cup when as a professional it's not a big deal, but for me the Walker Cup is a big deal. There is a lot of history behind it, and it is a big thing. I knew there was plenty of time to turn pro after that. I knew there would be some events that I could get in and that I could go to Q-School to see if I could get a card.