Ricardo Celia, senior, came to NSU in the fall of 2010 to play golf and study business. Hailing from Barranquilla, Columbia, Celia has been playing golf since he was 6 years old and credits his father for getting him started in the game.
“My father used to play golf every Saturday and he would take me to the course with him and I just started to love the game,” said Celia.
Celia’s career at NSU has been filled with accolades. In 2011, during his freshman year, he was named to the Golf Coaches Association of America’s All-Freshman Team and the Sunshine State Conference Commissioners Spring Honor Roll.
The next year, he defeated his opponent from California State University Chico, by one stroke to help win NSU’s first national championship, and helped the Sharks receive GCAA All-Academic Team recognition. He was selected to the SSC Academic Honor Roll along with being a member of the Capital One Academic All-District Team.
Last year, Celia ranked no. 3 nationally at the end of the season and was honored as a 2013 Division II PING All-America first-team selection and All-SSC first-team member.
Golf is Celia’s life, as he has been playing competitively for the past 12 years and practicing every day. Yet, there are still mental and physical aspects of his game that he would like to improve. Celia said he used to struggle with putting when the pressure was on, but he wants to focus on relaxing more on the course.
“I have been working for a couple of years on mental games to help with pressure on the course, and I would like to improve the long distance part of my game,” said Celia.
Just like every other golfer in the world, Celia has bad shots and bad rounds, but how he deals with it is what helps make him the player he is. He said he stays patient when things are going wrong because he knows that it is easy to lose patience when a shot or round doesn’t go his way. He plays his best golf when he stays patient.
“If I make a bad shot, I have to forget it as quickly as possible and go on to the next one. If I have a bad round, I try to practice after and figure out what went wrong and try to fix the problem,” said Celia.
I sat down with Celia to ask him some questions.
What has been your greatest achievement in golf?
Winning nationals for NSU in 2012 or representing my country in [the 28th World Amateur Team Championship], competing for the Eisenhower Trophy.
What is the best aspect of your game?
Putting is definitely my best aspect.
Do you have any rituals before a round?
I mark the ball with a red dot.
What one word best describes your game?
Patience.
Who is your favorite athlete?
Lionel Messi and Tiger Woods
What one course in the world would you like to play?
That’s easy: Augusta National [in Augusta, Ga.]
