Mroz Talks a Good Game -- And Plays One, Too

Greg Mroz watched Zack Miller play a practice round at Pebble Beach on Wednesday and was surprised to learn he had two things in common with the PGA Tour rookie.

Mroz, a senior on the Branson High golf team, observed that Miller can be very conversational on the golf course ... just like Mroz.

And Miller can also be a very focused competitor ... again, just like Mroz.

Ah, but Mroz was quick to detect the difference.

“When I play, I tend to be either very chatty or Captain Serious. Always one or the other,” the 2010 All-Marin County Athletic League selection admitted. “Zack showed me you can be both in the same round.

“I learned a lot by watching him. He has the mental game mastered. He definitely has the right attitude to be a PGA golfer.”

Mroz went to Pebble Beach this week with his Branson teammates. It was a nice way to tee off the 2011 season, one in which the senior has big-time aspirations.

“Last year I was third in the league in scoring average,” he recalled. “This year I hope to be the best and lead the league in scoring average.”

Actually, Mroz, a San Rafael resident and junior member at the OIympic Club in San Francisco, has his future pretty much mapped out. It includes attending Northwestern University in the Fall in his hopes of becoming the next Bob Fitzgerald.

Or perhaps Damon Bruce would be a better example. After all, “Greg From San Rafael” already has a bit of a relationship with “The Ticket’s” afternoon talk-show host.

“I'm a frequent caller,” he admitted. “Basically my entire life I've wanted to work in the sports media, broadcasting or maybe sport-talk radio. I have the right voice it.”

He certainly convinced Bruce on the day before the Chicago Bears played the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game last month.

“Friday is the day he lets the callers ask him “3-Plays” and he tries to answer them,” the 18-year-old noted. “I'm a big Chicago fan and he's a big Bears fan, so I gave him a bunch of questions in the voice the of ‘the Superfans’ from ‘Saturday Night Live.’

“He got a kick out of it.”

Mroz says he hopes to work at the student station, WNUR, at Northwestern, then return to the Bay Area to “work some day for KNBR or do play-by-play in basketball or football.”

He can only hope his next trip to the Midwest is as successful as his previous one. That’s when he won a 36-hole tournament hosted by Notre Dame last summer, coming from two strokes off the pace with three holes to play to win by one.

It was the second tournament title of his budding career, the other coming in a junior event at the Metropolitan Links in Oakland.

Neither of those accomplishments featured his best-ever round, which was a 6-under-par 66 at the Marin Country Club as a 16-year-old.

“I had it 7-under at one point,” he recalled. “You'd be bored to death with it, but I can remember every shot I hit that day.”

And he could probably recite it in some famous voice if you care to walk alongside during one of his rounds for Branson this season. Just remember: As Miller taught him, when it’s time to bear down and hit a big shot, you’ll have to stand back and let him concentrate on it.