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Flavin focuses on golf, family and future

If you're looking for senior Patrick Flavin, you can find him at one of three places: the golf course, the putting green or the driving range.

Since his dad began encouraging him and his brother to play, Patrick estimates that he has played 3,000 rounds of golf. That's somewhere around 54,000 holes and more putts and drives than we have time to count.

Patrick hasn't always played golf. Before he stepped foot on a course, he played both baseball and soccer. It wasn't until his junior year of high school that he made the decision to solely pursue golf.

"Baseball was a spring sport where I'm from and [...] it was to the point where I would start going to play golf before school -- early, like 7 a.m. just to play nine holes."

You might think that doing the same thing that many times would get old, but Patrick isn't getting tired of it anytime soon.

"For me, plan number one is to play golf," Flavin said of his goals after graduation. He will graduate with a degree in Economics, but for Pat that's a back-up. He wants to have a career on the course.

Based off of his track record thus far, professional golf is not out of reach.

This past summer, he won both the Illinois Amateur and the Illinois Open, becoming only the second player in history to do so.

The weekend of Oct. 8 was one that put Flavin in the history books for the second time. With his win at the Evanston Golf Club in the Windon Memorial Classic, he became the second player in Miami's history to win seven tournaments.

Miami recognized this accomplishment by naming Flavin one of its Athletes of the Week Oct. 9-15. This is the third time he has been named an Athlete of the Week this season.

Patrick's memories of playing golf begin at eleven years old, when his dad first encouraged him to play. He may have gotten his start a bit later than some of his peers, but Patrick says that it's only added to his love of the game.

"It's definitely a little different than anyone else," he said.

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Flavin's first memories aren't of competing seriously. Patrick's earliest memories of golf are of playing with his brother and two friends on a course called Lake Bluff, not far from his home.

"We would go out, just the four of us would get dropped off by our parents and just go out and play against each other. We always just had so much fun, but it was more just goofing around, like hittin' giggles off, than it was serious."

Family support is still a crucial part of Flavin's career.

"I've been really lucky. My family is really supportive of golf. They're really positive and I feel like that's had a huge impact on my golf."

Patrick's most recent win at the Windon Memorial Classic was when he felt the most support from his family.

"This weekend was definitely special because Evanston golf club is like 15 minutes from our house so I had all my family out there and my swing coach out there and then just a bunch of family friends. To be able to play well in front of all them was just even more rewarding and a lot of fun."

When it comes to his game, Patrick was asked if his success is all talent or just luck. For him, it's a bit of both.

"I'm definitely a little superstitious," Flavin said, "I know it kind of sounds crazy, but I have a towel, and I like to have all my clubs below the towel except for my putter, and if I'm not putting well then I put my putter below the towel. I feel a little bit crazy sometimes but whatever works you gotta stick with for sure."

College golf isn't just an individual sport. For all of the success he has had on his own, Patrick still knows the importance of playing as a team -- and he loves his.

"We all live together, and we're all really good friends. We're together a lot, but I feel like that's really important especially in golf," Flavin said. "Because it's an individual game, but we're a team, we have to be really close to be good. It's really fun having a team that's your best friends."

Flavin will finish out the fall season with his friends and teammates Oct. 16-17 at the Dayton Flyer Intercollegiate. His family, teammates and friends will be there in the spring to watch him compete in his last season as a RedHawk on the golf course, the putting green or the driving range.

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