IOWA CITY, Iowa — Former Hawkeye standout, Ronan Kleu recently finished his first full season as a professional golfer. In two seasons at Iowa, Kleu played 21 career tournaments and posted a 73.3 stroke average. Kleu was named second team All-Big Ten in 2021-2022, his first season in Black and Gold. His senior season, Kleu had five top 25 finishes and two top 10s which earned him a selection to NCAA Regionals.
Following graduation, Kleu retained his amateur status through the summer of 2023. He capped off his amateur career with a runner-up finish in The Amateur Championship, losing 3&2 in the championship match to Geogia Tech All-American, Christo Lamprecht.
In 2024 Kleu made 23 starts on the Challenge Tour, the developmental series for the DP World Tour. He posted his best finish (12th) at the Finnish Challenge in August. Kleu made one start on the DP World Tour, the Omega European Masters, in his home country of Switzerland. Kleu made the cut and finished t47.
You just finished your first full season on tour. What did you learn from your experience? How will you apply what you have learned next season?
I’ve learned a lot. The first was the importance of seeing the bigger picture. I used to take each event under a microscope and immediately try to adjust technical aspects that were not great and that was not sustainable technically nor emotionally since there was no overall direction to the changes. I will be setting more clear plans as to what I want to achieve in a time period and then take the results as they come, knowing I have done the best preparation I can do and have an overarching goal.
Second would be the importance of planning the schedule wisely. I was very eager and played a ton of tournaments, even eight weeks in a row to end off the season. As top-heavy as professional golf is, it’s more important to have some quality finishes rather than running on a flat battery and getting a bunch of mediocre finishes. For next season that means playing as many three to four week blocks as possible and being strict about not planning to go over.
What is the biggest difference between college and professional golf?
I needed to learn how to adjust from college golf to professional golf. As college athlete we had the luxury of having our schedule planned out, coaches at every event and a support system, teammates to travel and live with and a distraction from golf in the form of studies. I found it easy to let golf dominate my life and so for next year I will have “sidequests” in the other areas of my life.
What are your plans for the 2025 season?
For 2025 I will be playing mainly Challenge Tour again with the category I retained from this year, including some tournaments on the Pro Golf Tour, a third league tour to fill some gaps in the schedule.
Hawkeye fans will be following and supporting you every step of the way in 2025. Good luck Ronan!
