Tag: Ryggs Johnston

Men’s college golf notebook: Washington State makes history at Husky Invitational; three aces in the same tournament

Here’s what you missed in the men’s college golf world.

The Washington State men’s golf team accomplished something Tuesday it never had before: the Cougars won a tournament in the western half of its state.

Washington State captured its rival hosts tournament, the Husky Invitational held in Bremerton, marking the first time the Cougars have won a tournament in the western portion of the state. WSU finished at 4-over 868, three strokes clear of USC and five ahead of the host Huskies.

“We got off to a shaky start, but give our guys credit. They just hung in there and clawed their way back and just seemed very patient and just played until they were no holes left,” Washington State coach Dustin White said. “You couldn’t really draw a better way to start your season.”

The win was the fourth for White during his tenure with the Cougars.

Junior Jaden Cantafio and senior Pono Yanagi both finished in the top five on the individual leaderboard. Cantafio led the Cougars after he shot 4-under 68 in the final round to finish at 3-under 213, which was solo third. He moved up 15 places over his final round, which included five birdies and an eagle on the par-4 18th. Cantafio ended his day one stroke behind Washington’s Taehoon Song and five strokes behind USC’s Jackson Rivera, who won the tournament. Yanagi finished at 2-under 214 for the tournament, tied for fifth.

“The teams that we were paired with and that we were competing with, these are these are high-level teams and you know, a lot of respect goes to those guys,” White said. “I mean, it’s hard to win in college golf, and anytime you get a chance to be in contention, there’s no other feeling that’s like it. So we’re just really appreciative of the fact that we had some teams that pushed us, and I think we all made each other better.”

Oregon finished in fourth, one shot behind Washington, and Long Beach State tallied a fifth-place finish.

Rivera, a sophomore, has finished in the top 10 in four of his past five starts. It’s the first win of his college career.

Craziness at in Fort Collins

In terms of craziness, there was plenty of it at the Ram Masters Classic at Fort Collins Country Club in Colorado. There were three holes-in-one, an albatross and a tournament record tied during the two-day, 54-hole event.

UC San Diego’s Eliot Bunyaviroch aced the par-3 second hole with an 8-iron in the first round. Creighton’s Shaun Campbell hit a pitching wedge on the ninth hole in the second round, and his ball went in the cup. Then Texas A&M Commerce’s Kittiphong Phaithuncharoensuk made an ace on the par-3 14th during the second round. Northern Colorado’s Garrett Willis then had an albatross, an 8-iron from 210 yards on the par-5 first hole in the second round.

Host Colorado State finished at 17 under for the tournament, tying the event record.

Big win for Cardinal, Thorbjornsen

Elsewhere, Stanford got a signature early-season win against a packed field at the Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields, beating second-place Florida and Illinois by 13 shots.

The Cardinal, ranked second in the Golfweek Sagarin rankings, shot even during the final round. Stanford led after every round, and junior Michael Thorbjornsen earned his first collegiate victory. He finished at 7-under 203, beating Florida’s Ricky Castillo and Illinois’ Adrien Dumont de Chassart by one shot. Thorbjornsen became the first Cardinal to win the tournament since Maverick McNealy in 2015.

Arizona State’s Ryggs Johnston finished solo fourth at 5-under 205 while Tommy Kohl of Illinois was solo fifth at 4 under.

More transfer news

The NCAA Division I Board of Directors recently made changes to the transfer portal, including opening and closing dates for specific sports. For men’s golf, the portal will open May 4, 2023, and close June 17 2023. For women’s golf, it will open April 27, 2023 and close June 10, 2023. There will also be a window for golfers to enter between Dec. 1-15, 2022.

In addition, the Division I Council is now permitting athletes who plan to enroll at another program after graduating to enter the transfer portal at any time.

Cameron Jourdan covers college and amateur golf for Golfweek. Got a college or amateur story? Email him at cjourdan@golfweek.com.

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Ryggs Johnston fires 7-under 63 to boost Arizona State into third at NCAA Championship

The sophomore shot the low round of the tournament on Saturday.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – A lot of states come to mind when you think of hotbeds for golf — Arizona, California, Florida. It’s safe to say Montana is not among them.

But it was an athlete from tiny Libby, Montana, stealing the show on Saturday at the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club.

Arizona State sophomore Ryggs Johnston fired a career-best  7-under 63 in the second round at the Raptor course. It marked the best individual round of the tournament thus far and boosted the host Sun Devils (2-over, 562) into third place after 36 holes, right behind Oklahoma State (6-under, 554) and Oklahoma (1-under, 559).

That round also moved Johnston into second place on the individual leaderboard at 5-under 135 along with Clemson’s Turk Pettit, three strokes behind leader Bo Jin of Oklahoma State (8-under, 132).

“Throughout the round I didn’t hit anything super close, but I made a ton of putts and I kept hitting it on the lines I was trying to hit it at, 10 feet and just kept making them,” Johnston said. “I was in my own little world today. I felt like I was in the zone, didn’t really think about what anyone else was doing. Just tried to focus on myself.”

Johnston said Arizona State had been a dream school of his since the sixth grade. So when he got an offer to play for the Sun Devils it was a no-brainer with the weather and the ability to play year-round. He also noted the professional players that have passed through the program.

Libby is a town of about 3,000 in the northwestern corner of the state. Johnston said the town has just “two or three” stoplights and the nearest Walmart is 90 miles away. The golf season runs from late March to early October. While some may see that as a disadvantage, the ASU standout says there is a positive aspect.

One of the biggest transitions he dealt with in his move to Arizona was the availability of the sport.

“A lot more golf than I was ever used to playing. I practice a lot but not every day and not year-round, but it’s been good. I think it benefited me to not have that when I was younger because I didn’t get burned out. I always had a break to play other sports. And I was ready to go in the spring when it came to golf.”

ASU head coach Matt Thurmond said he first heard about Johnston through an article he saw about the youngster and continued to track results from other junior events.

“I saw this phenom, 13, 14-year old had won a USGA qualifier up in Montana,” he recalled. “That was the first I had heard of him. Started seeing here and there, various different national events, but he didn’t play a ton so he was still relatively unknown.”

Johnston, who has been the No. 3 player for ASU all season, may have been the talk of the tournament on Saturday but he has had other stellar showings as well. He was a first team All-Pac 12 selection after placing fourth individually at the Pac 12 Championship at Mayacama Golf Club in Santa Rosa, California, having finished at 12-under 276.

He started the national event with a 2-over 72 in Friday’s opening round but left little doubt when he took to the course for a second time. The Sun Devils started on the back nine and he birdied the first three holes, finishing that nine with a 5-under 30. Johnston’s blistering round consisted of nine birdies, two bogeys and seven pars.

About the only hiccup on the day was a bogey at the 475-yard, par-4 third hole.

“It was pretty good bogey on 3 because I was all over the place. It could have been a disaster,” he said.

Thurmond likes the position his team is in with a cut from 30 to 15 teams coming after Sunday’s third round. The top eight after the fourth round on Monday then advance to match-play quarterfinals.

ASU’s top two players bounced back after sub-par opening rounds. Sophomore David Puig and senior Chin An Yu both posted second rounds of 1-over 71. The 71 from Puig was especially noteworthy because his round included a double bogey as well as a quadruple bogey on the par-4 seventh. He had finished the back nine with a 3-under 32 and was still at 3-under when he got to No. 7.

Rounding out the scoring was Cameron Sisk with a 3-over 73. The score thrown out was a 4-over 74 by Mason Andersen, who was the team’s low scorer in the opening round.

Thurmond said he tries to go to the hometowns of all of his players but has yet to make it to Libby. If Johnston has another round like he did on Saturday, that could come sooner rather than later.

“I haven’t made it up there and I feel really bad about it,” he said. “I think I need to, maybe go fishing with him.”

Third round action gets underway at 6:10 a.m. with ASU scheduled to go off in the lead group. There is no admission for spectators.

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NCAA Championship Saturday notebook: Oklahoma State’s big day, Sun Devil gets hot

Here’s what you missed from the morning wave Saturday at Grayhawk Golf Club.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — During a practice round at the Big 12 Championship in April, Oklahoma State’s men were on a par 3 comparing clubs. Freshman Bo Jin pulled a shorter club.

“They were kind of teasing him or questioning him,” remembered head coach Alan Bratton, “and (Jin) said, ‘Hey, I decide how far this club goes.’”

The Beijing, China, native has carried that strong mentality to the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship, where he’s led himself and his Cowboys to the top of the individual and team leaderboards after two rounds at Grayhawk Golf Club. Oklahoma State holds a comfortable lead at 6 under.

“Obviously I’ve got to play smart, can’t always go for every single flag, there’s trouble around the greens but my irons are pretty well, I’m putting pretty well so you’ve just got to hit it somewhere near there and try to make the putt,” said Jin after his second-round 5-under 65 on Saturday. “To me playing a hard golf course, you’ve got to manage your game more. Keep making pars, par is a good score. If you get a birdie that’s a bonus but a bogey will never kill you on a hard golf course.”

On a challenging Raptor course that hasn’t given way to many birdies, Jin made seven of them, offset with just two bogeys. He currently sits at 8 under, three shots clear of Arizona State’s Ryggs Johnston and Clemson’s Turk Pettit, who are T-2 at 5 under after Saturday’s morning wave.

The Cowboys as a whole minimized mistakes in the second round, which Bratton said was the difference-maker in his team’s five-shot swing from the first round.

“We made several double bogeys yesterday, so I think we’re just getting more used to the golf course,” explained Bratton. “And obviously the conditions in the morning are a little easier. That’s why you play for a top seed like that and hopefully play well, so we get to go out early. Obviously, we’ll get to go out early again tomorrow. That’s big.”

“I mean, there’s a few hole locations, No. 1, No. 4, No. 6 today, this afternoon, those are going to be difficult,” he continued. “They were hard this morning.”

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Sun Devil catches fire

Arizona State sophomore Ryggs Johnston shot the low round of the week thus far, dancing his way around Grayhawk on Saturday to the tune of 7-under 63 to move into a tie for second on the individual leaderboard. The Libby, Montana, native began his day on No. 10 and made three consecutive birdies, ultimately making the turn in 5-under 30 thanks to three later birdies and a bogey. After the turn he played Nos. 2-5 birdie, bogey, birdie birdie.

To put that score in perspective, the scoring average for the second-round morning wave was 72.27.

Pants in the desert?

With temperatures at Grayhawk flirting with 100 degrees, Wake Forest is the only team in the field wearing pants every day, and it’s for a good reason.

Tradition.

“Coach Haddock always felt that shorts were for junior golf,” said current head coach Jerry Haas referring to legendary Demon Deacons coach Jesse Haddock. “If you want to be a professional and that was your ambition to be a pro, then you should wear long pants and the story goes that some kid wanted to wear shorts and coach told him, ‘Go back to your club, and you ride in your cart and you drink your beer and you shoot your 75s. Curtis (Strange), Lanny (Wadkins), they wear long pants and shoot 67 on Sunday.’ So that was the end of that.”

“I’m doing it for Coach Haddock, honoring his wishes,” said Haas. “He was a legendary coach and a great man and my coach when I played at Wake. I think it looks good. I think you look like a player. If you want to be a player, that’s just the way it is.”

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