Luis Gagne is making his second European Challenge Tour start this week just over a month after his professional debut at Pebble Beach in the U.S Open Championship.
The Costa Rican will begin his professional life as one of the most hotly-tipped young talents, following an acclaimed amateur career that saw him finish as low amateur at the 2018 U.S. Open Championship and rise as high as 24th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
Ahead of the Vierumäki Finnish Challenge, the 22-year-old reflects on his first few weeks as a professional and discusses why he thinks coming over to Europe is the best thing for his career.
How have you found the transition into the paid ranks?
Fun! It is a lot different to college golf where you travel with the team every week, whereas now it’s just me and my caddie.
I turned professional before the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, which was just such a cool experience and having my whole family and my friends there on my debut was very special.
I know quite a few of the guys playing in Europe, so that makes things a lot easier than just showing up here by yourself and the players on the European Tour have been extremely friendly which makes the transition a lot smoother as well.
You finished as the low amateur at the 2018 U.S. Open Championship. How much confidence did that result give you?
That was great, it was my first Major Championship and going up to Shinnecock Hills, that place is just unbelievable! I got to play with Sam Burns, who is one of my old college roommates and a close friend, so it felt that we were just out there having fun. It was just an awesome week. To be able to be there on Sunday and sit on the green for the closing ceremony with Brooks Koepka was, without a doubt, one of the coolest experiences of my career so far.
Brooks Koepka would go on to win the event at Shinnecock Hills. How much do you think his success has motivated more players to come over and compete on the Challenge Tour?
For sure, Brooks showed a lot of people that there is another way to do it. In the final round at Shinnecock Hills, I played with Peter Uihlein and I was asking what he thought about coming to Europe. He said it was a no-brainer. You learn a lot and have a few more opportunities as well. To travel and see the different types of courses can only be a good thing for your game.
How much have you enjoyed playing golf in Europe over the past few months?
I played the BMW International Open, in Germany, which was my first event and a great way to start, and then went across to Valderrama, which was tough! I haven’t seen a course like that before. It is a layout you need to play a few times before you can play well. Then my first Challenge Tour event was in Austria a few weeks ago, a beautiful, and very hilly course!
All three different experiences, which is one of my main motivations to come over here at the start of my career.
What are your plans for the rest of the season? Can we expect to see more of you on the Challenge Tour?
I’m planning to play a few more Challenge Tour and European Tour events over the coming months. I’m here until the Porsche European Open in September and will then travel home to get ready for Qualifying School. I’m planning to play come back over for Qualifying School and will then decide on my future depending on how that goes.
Looking at this week, are you expecting a different challenge again in Finland?
The course is really nice, but a little different to what I’ve played before. It’s almost links, especially because the course is quite dry because of the hot weather, but then in the middle of a forest with lots of trees in play. A little bit of everything, but I’m excited to see how the week goes.
