Finding Golf on Reunion Island
I was born and raised on Reunion Island, a small French territory near Madagascar. It’s home in every sense of the word. Golf wasn’t the most popular sport there, but I was lucky. There was a course just five minutes from my house, and my uncle already played.
One day, my dad, my uncle, and I went out together, and I tried golf when I was about seven or eight years old. It felt natural right away. I didn’t have to force anything. I just knew this was something I wanted to keep doing.
Growing up, I played multiple sports. Soccer, tennis, and golf were all part of my life. Soccer came first, and I was good at it, but I never loved relying on a team. I preferred individual sports where everything depended on me.
When my dad asked me to choose, soccer was the first to go. Later, I had to decide between tennis and golf. At the time, I might have been better at tennis, but golf pulled me in a different way. I couldn’t explain it logically. I just loved the grind.
What drew me in was the idea that golf is never perfect. You’re never finished. You’re always chasing something better, knowing you’ll never fully catch it.
That challenge fit my personality. I focused fully on golf by the time I was 12, and the results came quickly. I won the Reunion Island championship two times in a row, even against adults, but I also knew the competition was limited.
If I wanted to grow, I had to leave.