Corning's Sean Paul Owen places second at prestigious NYS Men's Mid-Amateur Championship
Soccer took priority over golf for Sean Paul Owen while at Horseheads High School. Owen has displayed time and again since then that his golf skills are awfully good as well.
Owen, 26, showcased his talent on the links by finishing second out of more than 130 golfers Sept. 24 at the New York State Men's Mid-Amateur Championship at Crag Burn Golf Club in East Aurora, near Buffalo. The event is one of the biggest annually for the New York State Golf Association.
Representing Corning Country Club, Owen finished with a three-day, three-round score of even-par 216, four shots better than the two players who tied for third place. Billy Hanes of Crag Burn GC won with a score of 7-under 209.
Owen said the course was in "spectacular condition" and played firm and fast. He was joined by his parents, Tim and Mary Therese Owen, for the tournament.
Before graduating from Horseheads in 2015, he helped the Blue Raiders to the Section 4 Class AA basketball title as a senior and also played lacrosse and soccer, which is played at the same time of year as golf in the Southern Tier Athletic Conference. Owen was Horseheads' Male Athlete of the Year as a senior.
He went on to play golf collegiately at SUNY Oswego, where he was Empire 8 Conference Men's Golf Player of the Year in 2019 after winning the conference tournament by eight strokes.
Owen graduated from Oswego with a degree in finance and is now an analyst for the automotive glass division for Corning Inc. He lives in Corning.
More: Molly Huddle discusses mom life, her running future and Wineglass Weekend
Question: What's your approach in terms of competing in golf?
Answer: I just enjoy the competition of the game. I’d like to play in a few more competitive tournaments going forward. With the top-10 finish at New York State Mid-Am I’ll get an exemption into the men’s New York State Am next year as well as the Mid-Am. I definitely plan on playing in those next year.
I’ll continue to play the USGA Four-Ball with my buddy and I’ll do the U.S. Open qualifying every year too. You never know what can happen.
Q: How would you assess the Mid-Am?
A: I’m obviously pretty happy with the performance first time playing in the tournament. I made a lot of birdies out there. I think I made too many bogeys, that was the problem. The short game around the green – chipping and putting – was really the key area where I was lacking. I think the winner, Billy Hanes, had five bogeys the whole weekend over the three days. I had 14.
But overall I thought I struck the ball pretty well. My ball-striking was there. Just wanted to play in the tournament and overall fairly pleased. Hopefully next year go back and get the W.
More: The Big East's best: Horseheads' Tess Cites reflects on big year, Villanova's success
Q: Were you surprised to finish so well?
A: I wouldn’t say I was surprised. I looked at the scores from previous years and I think last year 5-under par won it. It’s usually right around there winning that tournament. I’m confident in my game. I can shoot those scores, I know I can. I do it with my friends and I do it when I play regularly. Is it nice to be there? Yes. But I felt going into it I would be able to compete.
Q: What else stood out about the Mid-Am?
A: First and foremost, my mom was walking with me and my dad was on the bag. I’ll definitely remember that weekend. We had a lot of fun. Reading the greens on a lot of the putts, my dad was there and I had a few of them wrong and he helped correct me, so that was fun.
Q: Was there ever contemplation of a pro career?
A: Very slight. I thought about it for a little bit, but the reality is those guys out there are ridiculously good. I had a good career going coming out of school with Corning and I guess it really was not realistic. It was more of a fleeting thought than anything.
Q: What stood out about your college days?
A: I originally went to SUNY Oswego and I wasn’t even planning on playing golf. I didn’t play golf in high school. I played soccer, basketball and lacrosse. I went up to Oswego my freshman year and tried out for their open tryouts for their soccer team and I got cut. So the next day I tried to go out for the golf team, but they had already had one day of tryouts, so I was told I couldn’t try out. I had to wait until my sophomore year, tried out for the team, made it and I played three years on the team and had a blast. I lived with three or four of my teammates and made some lifelong friends. Really enjoyed my time at Oswego and playing on the golf team and getting to know some of those guys.
Q: What is your golf background?
A: I played in some USGA kids events growing up with my dad. He’d caddie for me, we’d go out and play a couple events a year. But other than that, in the summers I would always play golf as well. … If golf was in the spring in high school I definitely would have played. But it overlapped with soccer and soccer at that point was really my passion. All my friends played soccer as well.
Q: How were you able to excel in such a wide range of sports?
A: I think it starts really in my household. My dad got me into all different sports early, whether it was playing ping-pong in the basement or going outside and playing basketball in the driveway with him, he always had some kind of competition and we were always playing to win. So really getting that competitive edge early, learning how to lose, learning how to win. Really playing every sport. I played pickup football in my side yard, played baseball, lacrosse. Anything with a ball I was playing with my dad from a young age.
Q: What's the appeal of golf?
A: I love the individual aspect of it. You go out there and it’s really all on you. Yes, you have a caddie, but it’s not like you have teammates you need to rely on. If you’re not performing well, there’s nobody to look to but you and if you play well you can excel at the game. A lot of it is mental too, which is kind of fun. You can have the swing, but are you able to make the swing and not be scared of the swing?
Follow Andrew Legare on Twitter: @SGAndrewLegare. You can also reach him at alegare@gannett.com. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today
This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Horseheads High grad Sean Paul Owen takes second at NYS Mid-Amateur
