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12/03 09:28 CST Ryggs Johnston goes from a tiny Montana town to Australian Open
champion: Analysis
Ryggs Johnston goes from a tiny Montana town to Australian Open champion:
Analysis
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
A pair of Americans delivered command performances halfway around the world
during Thanksgiving week. One was Peter Uihlein, the former U.S. Amateur
champion and two-time Walker Cup player, winning by five shots in Qatar on the
Asian Tour.
The other was Ryggs Johnston, and well, some introductions might be in order.
Don't get the idea Johnston came out of nowhere when he won the Australian Open
--- unless Libby, Montana, and its population of 3,725 is anyone's idea of
nowhere. He was named after Mel Gibson's character in "Lethal Weapon."
The best golfer to come out of Montana?
"Hands down, Ryggs Johnston," Jeff Dooley said with a chuckle, because the best
humor is often found in truth.
Dooley is the head pro at Cabinet View Golf Club, which has 250 members who buy
passes for a seven-month golf season on an 18-hole course overlooking the
Cabinet Mountains, just east of Idaho and south of Canada. He watched Johnston
develop and knew there was something special about the way he played, the way
he scored.
"I've been saying for a long time, it's inevitable we're going to see Ryggs on
TV in a tournament," Dooley said, perhaps not realizing that moment would keep
him up past midnight to see Johnston look unflappable in his three-shot win at
Kingston Heath.
"Everybody was just wired, all the golf pros," Dooley said. "There was a huge
text stream going across Montana."
The best in Montana at age 24? A case can be made. The most notable tour
professional from Montana was Mike Grob, who won six times on the Canadian Tour
and spent one full year on the PGA Tour.
Five months into his professional career, in his second start as a European
tour member, Johnston won golf's fifth-oldest championship at the Australian
Open to get his name on the Stonehaven Cup along with Jack Nicklaus, Arnold
Palmer and Gary Player, and more recently Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Adam
Scott.
The Australian Open also was must-see TV further south in Tempe, Arizona, where
Arizona State coach Matt Thurmond was never more proud.
Thurmond heard all about Johnston and tried to recruit him when he was coach at
Washington, only to learn about that sixth-grade project when the teacher asked
students to write down their dream. Johnston's dream: "Go to ASU and play golf."
Thurmond was hired at Arizona State in 2016 and getting Johnston became a lot
easier.
Johnston never won a tournament in college but always was in the starting
rotation. He was third at the NCAA Championship in 2021 as a sophomore and
finished with four straight top 10s to end his career.
He spent five years at Arizona State because of the COVID-19 pandemic and made
good use of his time. The Pac-12 scholar-athlete of the year as a senior,
Johnston is a few courses short of a Masters' degree from ASU's Thunderbird
School of Global Management.
He finished at No. 17 in the PGA Tour University ranking, which made him exempt
for the Canada portion of the PGA Tour Americas schedule, and exempt into the
second stage of PGA Tour qualifying this week.
Except that Johnston won't be there, all because the Sun Devil took a pitchfork
in the road that involved some of Thurmond's best coaching off the course.
Johnston figured he could try all three stages of European tour Q-school and
still get home in time for the second stage of PGA Tour qualifying.
"It was funny because it took me forever to get him to go to the British
Amateur," Thurmond said. "He always said, ?I'm a U.S. guy.' But it slowly
changed. He visited (David) Puig in Spain, played the European Amateur. But I
couldn't believe it when he called. I told him why not? Give yourself a chance."
He made it through the first stage in France with three shots to spare. He went
to Spain a month later and tied for third in the second stage, and a week later
sailed through 108 holes in Spain at the final stage to earn a European tour
card.
Two weeks later, he headed Down Under to make his European tour debut in the
Australian PGA and tied for 43rd in a rain-shortened event, then went 1,100
miles down the coast to Melbourne for the Australian Open.
The famed Melbourne sand belt was soaked by rain, and Johnston at this point
was worn out. He played 10 out of 12 weeks in Canada. He flew to France, came
home, spent two more weeks in Spain enduring the pressure of Q-school, came
back home and then headed to Australia.
"I really didn't have any expectations," Johnston said, "which probably helped
me in the end."
Johnston said he might not have thought about European tour qualifying if not
for the encouragement of Thurmond. The coach feels Johnston knew the right path
and only wanted to hear some confirmation.
Either way, it couldn't have worked out any better. Instead of coming back to
America for the second stage of Q-school, Johnston is at the Nedbank Challenge
in South Africa, with Max Homa as the defending champion against a field that
includes Will Zalatoris, Corey Conners, Thriston Lawrence and Nicolai Hojgaard.
Johnston starts next year with tournaments like the Dubai Desert Classic, which
features McIlroy and Jon Rahm. The victory gives him a spot in the British Open
at Royal Portrush, his first major unless he can qualify for another before
then.
"He's come a long, long way," Thurmond said. "Of all the people, to think of
Ryggs being in South Africa this week blows my mind."
Still to come by the of the year is a trip home to Libby, the tiny Montana town
tucked in the northwest corner that is planning a homecoming for the latest
Australian Open champion.
"I've got a lot of messages from friends saying the whole town is watching,"
Johnston said Sunday. "It's just really cool to have that kind of support, the
thing that you don't see much other than from small towns."
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
