MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Johnathan Miron

The first time I grabbed a golf club, I genuinely knew I’d be doing it for the rest of my life. My name is Johnathan Matthew Miron and my life all began in Onslow Hospital, Jacksonville, North Carolina, USA on the 22^nd May 2000. Famous for its long sandy coastline, Jacksonville has also been the birthplace of my 2 younger brothers Matthew (19/09/2002) and Benjamin (06/04/2004). We have lived virtually all around the world and encountered several different cultures. My family has always loved travelling and experiencing new lifestyles, foods and cultures. We have all gone through various different ways of living and all have influenced the way eat, breathe and live today.

In my time in America I have lived in Jacksonville, Chile and Colombia. Having visited other places such as Chicago, Miami and San Diego, I don’t remember too much of Jacksonville and Colombia but Chile is a place I moved to at around 3 years old in 2003. I remember great days of when I rid along Chile’s coastline in a yellow battery powered quad with my dad jogging along side me and the light of a sunset shining upon the beach. I’ve always liked racing, riding, mechanics, cars and bikes. I guess I get it from my dad, as he is a successful mechanic and currently employed as a consultant manager of a coal mine in Borneo. Even today, I am addicted to a show called “Top Gear” and am intrigued in conversations with my dad learning about vehicles. Every morning in Chile, I woke up to the sounds of thunderous waves crashing down and man it was great. The house had a good view of the beach and an apartment where a famous musician used to sometimes stay which was Shakira. She always flew in a helicopter landing on top of the building and I remember imagining what the view would look like from up there. Minor earthquakes struck constantly in Chile but I could never really feel them. Every once in a while my dad would give me a ride with his dirt bike up on the sandy mountains a reasonably far distance behind the house. I always had a ball and remember driving on his favourite routes. It was an awesome feeling. After my littlest brother Benjamin was born, we later decided to move to Indonesia.

Education has always been important to me. I’ve always wanted to be smart, successful and multi-talented and I am. I excel in English, succeed in Math, am interested in Information Technology, speak 2 languages fluently and keep pushing myself to the limit in sports. Until today I’ve always been a bit of a shy kid. I started my education in Balikpapan, Borneo, Indonesia and when I was young I just hated school.  I was the kid that cried on the way with my mum having to drag me into class and wait until I finished. I guess you could’ve called me a bit of a mommy’s boy. During my first few grades, I didn’t want to make any friends at all and also failed every class; not because of I wasn’t smart, it was just because I couldn’t be bothered to work and hated school that much. At the time it was like going through hell. After a couple years though I decided to change my ways and perspective towards other people and started making friends. I now look back at myself at that time of being a bit of an idiot but it was who I was. Life is full of choices and I am happy I chose to change into someone that is better.

At the same time I started a passion I still continue today which is golf. The sport has taught me “perfection is unattainable; being the best however is always achievable” – Johnathan Miron (myself). I started playing when I was around 5 years old in Balikpapan, Borneo, Indonesia and had a coach named Pak Sudirman. I practiced every weekend as my brothers decided to follow my footsteps and after each session we were hooked on having a famous Indonesian street food called “Bakso”, the beginning of our love for Indonesian food. Golf is a major aspect that has shaped who I am today and I still continue this passion while being in the pursuit of becoming a successful PGA player in the future. The sport has conveyed me discipline, respect, patience, honesty and several more values.

When I moved from Balikpapan because of my dad’s horrible roster to a jungle in Sangatta, Borneo, Indonesia (close to where my dad use to work at the time)  I shifted to tennis due to the fact the area didn’t really have a golf coach or facility. Sangatta is where I decided to change my ways and made 3 best friends that I have kind of lost connection with today. Family time was adequate and I must say, those 3 years of living there were probably the best years of my life so far. Living in the jungle was pretty cool. Everyday we could explore the wilderness, encounter several snakes, wake up and see Orangutans taking bananas from our banana trees as monkeys would occasionally invade the school and all the students had to reluctantly rush indoors to evade them. It was a very small community. TBIS (the school) only supported grades up to year 6 and on average had 20 enrollers including my 2 brothers and myself. We all got along really well. The school taught more physically rather than educationally. Technology was scarce and I didn’t know anything about cinemas, computers and generally technology in those days. It was like living in the 1970s where all us kids talked, played, explored and had fun instead of staring at screens. Every month the school hosted an event called “family hash” where a family would have to make a track through the dense jungle. Us Miron’s were known to be the best track makers of the lot. During the process we had to battle through all the undergrowth using machetes, hang ribbons to mark the route and encounter vast wildlife. My brother once saw a huge grey python swallowing a squirrel. Pretty scary stuff. Anyway, we made the school venture through rivers, hills, small cliffs and many more. It was just awesome compared to what we are limited to do nowadays in Bali. Although my friends and I regularly played PS2, I cycled everyday after school for the whole afternoon racing against one of my best friends Vincent. We were both into Moto GP as I went for Rossi and he went for Stoner and they were ultimate rivals. He was a lot fitter than me but I managed to win a lot of times because of my technique. We literally crashed big and leaned down on turns until our pedals smashed the concrete. It was all guts for glory.

On our final year there, many of my friends graduated and the school went bankrupt. It was pretty unfortunate and my brothers and I had the choice of either moving to Bali or Australia and…. we obviously chose Bali. We visited Bali on the holidays annually and thought it’d be a great new lifestyle. When we moved, I genuinely knew it was going to be a fresh new start to my life; new friends, new food, new vicinity and new lifestyle. I quit tennis and moved back to golf and am currently the top ten best junior golfers of Indonesia in my age group. I have also qualified to play in the USA twice and won several tournaments locally and some internationally.

My mum and dad have invested a lot into my passion and I am willing to give back while being in the pursuit of becoming a successful PGA golfer. I dream of my brothers and I playing off on the last day in a PGA major, all being successful and owning our dream cars as we all are a bit of car fanatics due to Top Gear and possibly a bit from our father.  Here I am today, a good golfer and a smart A grade student willing to succeed in the future. Excitement is on the edge and it seems like I am heading in the right direction.