By: Michelle Hantak, Mizzou Strategic Communications
Mizzou Golf senior Ryan Zech hails from Kearney, Missouri, a town 30 minutes northeast of Kansas City. Zech began golfing at a young age with his dad, Phil. As soon as Zech was old enough to walk, heading to the driving range with his father and set of plastic golf clubs became the norm.
"Once I got old enough to start walking, my dad started getting me plastic golf clubs and would take me to the driving range with him and I'd hit the ball around a little bit with my plastic club," Zech said. "Since my dad got me started with golf, it gave me an opportunity to spend time with him."
Zech spent a lot of time on the course absorbing as much about the game as he could from his dad, coaches and other mentors. Despite the inherent challenges of the game, Zech excelled and used the game as an escape.
"As a young kid going out to the golf course was pretty easy for me because I could go, be by myself and use my imagination to practice different things," Zech said. "It was kind of a getaway for me."
Zech began to play in both local and national junior tournaments to gain more experience. He won the first American Junior Golf Association event he played in on his 16th birthday in Kansas City, earning entrance into invitational events sponsored by the organization. Playing in junior tournaments through the AJGA and other organizations prepared Zech to make the transition to college golf.
"Competing in junior events prepared me to keep learning and play well in bigger events," Zech said. "Eventually later in high school, I was able to figure it out and had some good finishes that set me up to make the move to college golf. I was able to take steps through junior high and high school and just kept getting better at handling the bigger moments."
At Kearney High School, Zech was an all-state, all-conference, all-district, all-Northland and all-metro selection each of his four seasons. Zech won the individual state title in his sophomore and senior seasons. He ended his high school career on a high note after being named the Kansas City Metro Player of the Year and a Kansas City Scholar Athlete, as well as winning the Kenneth Smith award, which is reserved for the Kansas City golfer that best demonstrates excellence on the course, in the classroom and in the community.
During the recruiting process, Zech received scholarship offers from 19 schools, eventually narrowing his list down to Missouri, Iowa and Southern Methodist University. After weighing the pros and cons of each school, Zech chose Mizzou, something he thought might happen throughout the entire process.
"I think I kind of knew all along that I was going to end up at Mizzou," Zech said. "It had all of the facilities I liked and all the facilities I needed, only two hours from home. I didn't feel the need to go eight hours away when I could get it here."
Although the transition to college can be difficult, Zech handled it with poise, excelling in the classroom and on the golf course. As a freshman, Zech made eight starts for the Tigers, earning his first collegiate victory at the C.O.G. Missouri Intercollegiate.
"I've always been really good at separating my priorities and focusing on the task at hand so it didn't take too long to get in the swing of things," Zech said. "It was nice to have a team atmosphere because I was able to relate it back to high school golf where you get to play for the team and yourself. That aspect put me in a comfort zone right off the bat."
During his career, Zech has amassed three victories and five top-five finishes. On the Missouri squad, Zech is known for being consistent throughout the season and being able to step it up in the postseason. Zech has never finished outside the top 25 in the postseason. At the 2014 NCAA Championship, Zech was named an All-American after posting the second-best finish at the national tournament in Mizzou Golf history with a tie for ninth. Zech is extremely proud of his play at nationals, but his focus remains on getting back to the event at the end of this season.
"Nationals was an awesome week and we still talk about it with my family and some of my friends, but it was just one week," Zech said. "I'm trying to do what I can to help our team this year and hopefully get back."
Throughout his time at Mizzou, every aspect of Zech's game has improved. What he is most proud of improving as a Tiger is his mental game, which really started to come together last spring.
"As far as really developing, I took a big step last spring right before nationals," Zech said. "I got so much better at not caring about making mistakes and not caring about who was playing at a tournament. I was developing along that road, but it kind of clicked 100 percent right before nationals. I learned to play well in big events and I feel like I kind of found the personality and mindset that works for me going into different events."
As the lone senior on the team, Zech is expected to be the leader. Zech leads by example, holds himself to a high standard and is extremely competitive. He does his best to use his experiences from the past three years to help the newer members of the team understand what representing Mizzou Golf is all about.
As his college golf career nears an end, Zech realizes that he will miss his teammates the most. Being on the golf team has not only allowed Zech to get to know and work with a variety of personalities, but also allowed him to form bonds with his teammates that he hopes will last a lifetime.
Although Zech's golf career will end in May, he will not officially graduate from Mizzou until May of 2016. Zech is studying middle school education and will complete the student teaching component of his program this coming fall before returning to Mizzou in the spring to finish up his last few classes. After graduation, Zech plans on using what he learned as a Tiger to achieve his dream of playing professional golf.
Zech and the rest of the Tigers return to action at the Snowman Getaway in Goodyear, Ariz., Feb. 22-24.