A 19-9 defeat may not live long in the minds of Europe’s players but, for Stuart Morgan, the 2021 Ryder Cup is etched into his memory for eternity.

Europe suffered their heaviest ever defeat in the competition last weekend in Wisconsin, losing to the youngest American team ever fielded.

And yet, while defeat at Whistling Straits will be a low point in the careers of some European Ryder Cup veterans like Sergio Garcia, Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter – who have soared to such highs in previous tournaments – for a boy from Llandrindod Wells, who first picked up a golf club aged three, it was the pinnacle of his professional life.

“It was amazing, the best thing I’ve ever done in golf,” says Stuart Morgan, 44, reflecting back on the tournament, where he featured as the coach of Austrian Bernd Wiesberger, himself a Ryder Cup debutant.

“It’s the first Ryder Cup I’ve been to as a coach and it was an amazing experience. I was there with Bernd, who took me as part of his support staff.

“We got to hang out with a lot of the players and the other coaches who were helping their players.

“It was Bernd’s first Ryder Cup too so to be there together was amazing. I’ve been to all the majors, I’ve been to Augusta, the US Open, but this was a different feeling altogether because it’s a team environment and you don’t get to experience that much in golf.

“You got the feeling of togetherness of all the players, caddies, coaches. It was incredible. The logistics to get us over there with travel waivers, the testing, airports, hotels, it was immense and I’ve very grateful to the work that went on to get us there.”

Although he didn’t get to cheer a European win on enemy territory and his player didn’t manage to score a point, it is still an experience that will live long in the memory for Morgan.

County Times: Stuart watches on as Bernd Wiesberger tees off at the Ryder Cup Stuart watches on as Bernd Wiesberger tees off at the Ryder Cup

“We didn’t win, the US side were very strong and they played really well, but I don’t think there was that much of a gap between the two sides,” he added.

“They just putted better and holed their putts at the right time. That happens in matchplay.”

As a professional performance coach, he has been working with Wiesberger – the first Austrian to appear at a Ryder Cup – since 2018, when a chance encounter saw the pair reconnect after Morgan moved to Austria with the family.

Morgan’s wife is Austrian and the couple and their two children live in the south eastern town of Oberwart, about 90 minutes south of Vienna.

“I’ve known Bernd since he was 15,” said Morgan. “My wife is Austrian. I met her working there, then we lived in London for about 10 years, then the US for another two and then came back to Austria for the kids to go to school. When I moved back I reconnected with Bernd so it worked out well.”

Fresh from his whistle-stop visit to Wisconsin, Morgan is talking to us from the small town of Michelbach-Le-Haut in north-eastern France, near the Swiss border, where one of his other players is featuring in the Swiss Challenge on the European Challenge Tour at the Golf Saint Apollinaire club.

Then it’s a brief break at home with the family in Oberwart before he heads to Scotland next week where a prospective new client is playing, before he hopes to finish the year at the lucrative season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. He is also dreaming of being on the sidelines at the next Ryder Cup in 2023, when the competition returns to home soil, in Rome.

County Times: Carl Robinson in action for Wales. Robison, from Llandrindod, won 52 caps for his country Carl Robinson in action for Wales. Robison, from Llandrindod, won 52 caps for his country

It’s a far cry from Llandrindod’s Oxford Road Primary School, where his career trajectory may have followed a different flight path, similar to that of another pupil in the same year and fellow spa town sporting icon.

Carl Robinson, the former Wolverhampton Wanderers, Sunderland, Norwich City and Wales footballer, is a childhood friend. Robinson, also 44, won 52 Welsh caps over a decade-long international career before moving into management in America. The ex-midfielder is currently in charge of Western Sydney Wanderers in Australia’s A-League.

The duo forged a formidable partnership in the old Oxford Road school’s midfield engine room, even if the green grass on which the pals carved out their careers differed somewhat.

“Llandrindod is my home and I have unbelievable memories there,” said Morgan, a gifted sportsman in his own right; he won national swimming titles and excelled as a javelin thrower in his youth.

“I grew up with Carl Robinson, we were in the same school year and are good friends; our families are close and we went on holidays together.

“He always wanted to be a footballer and I always wanted to do something with golf.

“We both went to Llandrindod High School and went to Oxford Road Primary School together too. We had a good football team there; I wasn’t a bad footballer myself. I played in central midfield with Carl so that wasn’t a bad midfield duo.

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“People said it wouldn’t happen for us, but it has. It was always golf for me. It’s been a slog but if you dedicate yourself to something you can do anything you want.”

Morgan was introduced to golf by his grandparents David and Peggy Heighway as a toddler, with the latter continuing to push him to hone his skills at his hometown club after his grandfather passed away shortly after he started playing.

He undertook some of his PGA training at Cradoc Golf Club, just outside Brecon, before completing it at Monmouthshire Golf Club in Abergavenny.

“I started playing junior golf at three in Llandrindod,” said Morgan.

“Gran kept me going and I kept going and got down to a low enough handicap to do my PGA training. We had a great junior section at the club, it’s a great course, which has changed so much since I was a junior.

“I never wanted to be a player, I always wanted to be a coach from a young age once I turned pro. I was lucky enough to work for [renowned golf instructor] David Leadbetter for a while; he gave me some great grounding. Then I went on my own and tried to make the best of it.”