The Oaks Golf Course Head Professional Ryan Rhees proved that winning the 2018 Utah Section Omega Senior Player of the Year was no mistake by winning the title again in 2019.
“It feels good,” Rhees said about winning the season-long race in consecutive years. “We have a lot of good senior players in the Section and to be able to play good enough to come out first is great. It’s fun, everybody gets along great in our Section. It’s just fun playing with the guys.
“It’s not life or death out there but we go out and play hard and try to do the best we can and have fun with it.”
Highlighting the list of his 2019 accomplishments was his victory in the Senior Section Championship played at Alpine Country Club with rounds of 66-72 – 138. The win also qualified him to compete in the 2019 Senior PGA Professional Championship in Texas early October.
“For sure the Senior Section Championship, that was a big one,” Rhees said about which of his four wins meant the most.
Anyone working in the golf industry knows the difficulty of finding time to play and practice, for Rhees, it’s a work in progress.
“It’s hard, you have to get used to playing your best when you know you haven’t put in as much time as you should have. You’ve got to try and talk yourself in to the fact that you can go out and play good.
“I’m a competitive person and I like to go out and win and play the best I can. That keeps me motivated to practice as much as I can and stay in shape as much as I can to stay competitive.”
Rhees tallied four wins on the season, including the Senior Divisions of the Rose Park Open, Sanpete County Open, Tony Basso Group Black Diamond Open and the Senior Section Championship.
Not only did he secure four wins in his 17-events played, but he finished runner-up four times and only finished outside of the top five on two occasions.
“It’s fun playing with the guys in the section. It’s one thing I look forward to. It keeps me motivated at work, knowing I’ve got a tournament to go play in on the weekend that I can go hangout and play golf with the guys I like to be with and play against. It’s a fun Section to be in because everyone gets along so well and there are a lot of great players so it’s good to get out and test your game.”
Ryan Rhees Fast Facts:
What book are you currently reading?
Shoe Dog, the Phil Night biography. That one was really good, just finished that one and another book called Can’t Hurt Me, it’s a Navy SEAL book, I really enjoy those.
I like to read, that’s one of my hobbies, something I like to do when I’m not working.
What’s the last movie you watched?
I don’t see many movies anymore, really… Last movie we watched was Downtown Abbey.
Who are you currently listening to?
I listen to Dave Ramsey’s podcast a lot.