It took a while, including two stretches when he pretty much quit playing competitive golf for more than 20 years combined, for Matt Sughrue to understand and enjoy what he believes is most important about the sport.
When the Arlington resident eventually returned to active play the second time, his primary attitude was to always focus on improving and discovering how good he can get. Winning was still important and a goal, but not an obsession.
With that new approach and appreciation for golf, Sughrue, now 65, has indeed become better and certainly an accomplished and notable player, especially in the last eight U.S. Senior Amateur championships. He made the cut into the 64-player match-play portion of all eight, reached the quarterfinals four times, and the finals once with an 18th-hole loss after rallying from five holes down.Sughrue made the semifinals of this summer’s 69th event at the Honors Course near Chattanooga.
“The U.S. Senior Am is the granddaddy of them all to me,” Sughrue said. “It’s something I really look forward to. This year I played well, but not my best, in the semifinals.”
By reaching this season’s semifinals, Sughrue earned an exemption to play in the next two events. Other recent golfing high points for Sughrue were winning the Chanticleer National Senior Invitational in March, and entering this year’s Crump Cup at Pine Valley Golf Club in Pennsylvania as the defending champion of the senior division.
“I enjoy competitive golf now more than I used to, and appreciate the game more,” Sughrue said. “I have learned to embrace the game and its difficulties and its ups and downs. My motto now is I want to see how good I can get. The way to success is the process of improvement. So that’s what I focus on.”
A change of careers from a 25-year insurance professional to returning to school to become a psychotherapist also played a part in his refocus on golf. Sughrue’s client list includes fellow golfers, musicians, surgeons and other sports participants.
As for golf, Sughrue has been pretty accomplished whenever he has played.
He was a high-school state champion his sophomore year in 1975 in Maryland, has carded career low rounds of 64 and 65, competed in college at the University of North Carolina and has played many famous courses around the globe.
It was in college when Sughrue had a disappointing playing career, became burned out on the sport and quit playing competitive for 20 years, and at all in the 1990s. In 2000, he eventually returned to the sport for business purposes for a few years, then gave up playing again for six more.
It was during his next return that Sughrue changed some techniques to his game, but mainly adapted a new perspective of not being consistently discouraged, instead accepting an approach of focusing on improving instead of winning.
As a result, Sughrue anticipates no repeat of the past by taking breaks from the game.
NOTES: In addition to being a regular participant in recent U.S. Senior Amateurs in recent years, Sughrue has played in even bigger events, like two U.S. Amateurs and three U.S. Senior Opens, the last for each in 2017 . . . Overall, and at different ages and levels of play, the club member at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling has participated in 25 U.S. Golf Association championship events in his career.
