Update 07.02.2024

Thank you for your support so far! I am down to the last days of this crowdfunding and in order to safely reach my goal and fund my path to the top, I have set an intermediate goal of 9000 francs. Thank you so much for your support!

Grazie per il vostro sostegno finora! Sono arrivato ai ultimi giorni di questo crowdfunding e per poter raggiungere con sicurezza il mio obiettivo e finanziare il mio percorso verso la cima, ho definito un obiettivo intermedio di 9000 franchi. Grazie mille per il vostro sostegno!

Leonardo

HI! My name is Leonardo Bono, I have been a member of the Lugano golf club for the past 10 years, and a member of the Swiss national golf team for 8 years. Below you will find my story and my future project.

Looking at the Past

 I started playing golf at the age of 8 in the suburbs of Milan with my father. For years golf has been a passion that has strongly linked the relationship between me and my dad, giving us wonderful moments around Europe. At the age of 14 I started to see the game of golf from a different perspective. For years, golf had been a leisure activity, but at that time I wanted it to become much more than just a hobby, I wanted it to become my profession. Helping me dream big was Rory McIlroy, who at the time was an emerging phenomenon in the big star scene. Right from the start I knew I had great talent in the game, in fact competitive satisfactions came very soon. At the age of 15 I came to play in Switzerland for the first time. After just a few months I was already part of the National Team, and selected to represent Switzerland in various international competitions. In less than a year that I was in Switzerland one of my greatest successes on national soil arrived and it is also one I remember with the most joy; winning the overall Swiss champion title at the age of 16 (youngest winner ever).

Today

Today, at the age of 25, I have achieved one of the most important goals of my career as a student-athlete; I graduated from the University of South Carolina Aiken (Business Management). It has been 4 very intense years full of good times. As a player I have grown a lot and in fact the results speak for themselves: 4th in the Nation (NCAA ranking), collected 10 top 10, 3 times athlete of the week (PBC Conference), 3rd best scoring average at USCA history, Most Valuable Player of the year award at USCA, and Male Scholar -Athlete of the year award at USCA. Being part of the USC Aiken competitive golf team is not only a privilege for my sporting career, but it is also a great opportunity to complete my studies. Today, in fact, I am a senior who majored in business management with a GPA of 3.67 (Cum Laude).

In the year 2023/2024 I will conclude my academic studies at the University of Tampa with a Master with in Marketing. In Tampa, I will be on the golf team to play in the NCAA D2 National Championship. I always had in mind to complete my studies with a valid Graduate Program in the United States. As the University of Tampa golf team has had excellent seasons with very positive results in recent years, I decided to contact Coach Gary Hilton to find out if there was a chance for me to be part of his team in the season Fall 2023 and Spring 2024. Right from the start Coach Hilton was very excited to have me among the possible candidates for his 2023-2024 team, in fact he wanted to reward my golf achievements by offering me not only a place in the team but also an athletic scholarship.

Future

In August 2024 I will end my experience in the USA, obtaining my MBA. Once finished, I will go back to Switzerland to prepare my pro career. As mentioned, my dream is to make a living from golf playing on the European Tour. I will immediately give myself 2 years to see where my game can take me. I'm very excited to finally be a professional player. The results up to now are promising and I am sure that I will be able to obtain many satisfactions and achieve my goals.

Season Costs

As mentioned above, my opportunities to study abroad have always sprung from my sporting achievements, which have always resulted for me on obtaining sports scholarships to cover costs that my family could never afford. With sporting and academic duties (training, tournaments, and exams) I've never been able to find some sort of part-time job to cover some of my season's expenses (except part-time caddy in the US, that gave me some money but definitely not enough). Below is a short list of the expenses I face annually for my seasons:

Finally, in order to reach my full potential as an athlete, I need your financial support. Each contribution, however small it may seems, it would make an important difference in order to help me continue my competitive career, reaching my future goals and facing part of the expenses.

Thank you for listening to me and for considering my request for support. With your help, I hope to make my sporting dreams come true and pass around my passion on to others.

Thanks again,

Leonardo Bono