Andoni ETCHENIQUE
Golfer

Andoni received a grant to finance his participation to international competitions.

What is your sporting background?
At the age of five, I discovered golf thanks to my grandfather and started taking golf lessons at the Epherra golf course with Eric Galardi. In March 2007, I joined the Chantaco golf club, where I still play today and where I've had the chance to learn a lot about golf and its values. Shortly afterwards, I discovered competition, taking part first in local, then regional and finally in national competitions in 2010. And it was at the age of 14 that I joined the Chantaco Golf Club's Team 1, in which I still play today.  Thanks to good results, I reached the French youth championships, where I finished runner-up (2011) and twice semi-finalist (2012, 2014). These good results led me to be selected for the French Youth Team in 2013 and 2014.
Following a very good 2016 season, I was selected for the French Men's Team to play in the biennial England-France match. All my excellent results helped me to get noticed by American university coaches, and Tim Baldwin (a coach at the University of Louisiana Monroe) offered me a full scholarship to join his university. It was at this point that I decided to leave France, to test myself at a higher international level, and in July 2016, after obtaining my Baccalauréat in the scientific stream, I joined the University of Louisiana Monroe, where I began my American career. I finished 3rd in my first tournament on American soil and in my university's first 4 tournaments, I contributed to my team's 3 victories. After that, I took part in 7 to 10 tournaments every year.

How do you view your profession today?
It's a constant challenge: you have to prepare intensely, but also rationally, building a real team around you. It's a profession that leaves little room for improvisation: you have to be organized in your training, in your preparation, in your travels, in your search for partners. It's a whole package that has to be put together very meticulously. It's a profession that involves making important life choices, because it's very demanding and time-consuming.

How do you see yourself in five years? In 10 years?
In five years' time, I see myself as more mature in my profession and I hope to be on the DP Word Tour, which would enable me to live from my profession with more stability. I hope to have removed a lot of stress from my life, and to have a clearer medium- and long-term vision. In 10 years' time, I hope to be more involved with young people in the profession and to be able to draw on my personal experience to help newcomers if they so wish. And to have a family and more stability in my field.

Interview conducted in 2025
Photographs taken in 2025 by Isabelle Chapuis