Ryggs Johnston goes from small-town Montana to Australia’s national champion

Ryggs Johnston didn’t exactly have the best preparation for this week’s ISPS Handa Australian Open.

Already exhausted from three stages of DP World Tour Q-School and last week’s season-opening Australian PGA, Johnston wasn’t afforded a practice round on Kingston Heath, site of the Aussie’s national open and only Johnston’s second career start as a DPWT member, because of inclement weather.

“I really didn’t have any expectations,” Johnston said, “which probably helped me in the end.”

Johnston, a 24-year-old rookie out of Arizona State by way of Libby, Montana, fired a third consecutive 4-under 68 on Sunday in Melbourne to beat Curtis Luck by three shots. He eagled his first hole from the fringe and birdie the par-4 third to race ahead of fellow 54-hole co-leader Lucas Herbert and Curtis Luck, who went out in 3-under 33. Johnston also bogeyed three times on the front side, and Luck birdied the par-4 10th to tie Johnston and Herbert for the lead, but both Luck (two bogeys to cap a closing 68) and Herbert (3-over, birdie-less back nine) faltered late.

Johnston birdied three times on the inward nine, including from long range (30 feet) at the par-3 15th, and didn’t drop a shot to finish at 18 under and become just the 11th American-born player to capture the Aussie Open, joining a list that includes Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson.

Johnston is also the first winner – of any professional tournament for that matter – from Libby, a town of less than 3,000 people that sits in Lincoln County, the northwestern-most county in Montana.

“I’ve got a lot of messages from friends back saying the whole town is watching,” Johnston said. “It’s just really cool to have that kind of support, just kind of the thing that you don’t see much other than from small towns.”

Libby has been cheering Johnston on for years. As a sophomore, Johnston, who is named after Mel Gibson’s character in “Lethal Weapon,” finished third at the 2021 NCAA Championship, where he fired a second-round 63 in front of Arizona State alum Chez Reavie, who was out following Johnston at Grayhawk that day. However, the next two seasons saw Johnston struggle. He was in and out of the lineup his third year, missing the Sun Devils’ postseason lineup, and after a hot start to his fourth season, he followed those back-to-back fall top-5s with no other top-10s and just two top-15s the rest of the way. But just before ending another disappointing summer, Johnston made match play at the 2023 U.S. Amateur, winning a match, and experienced a resurgent fifth year at Arizona State, where he posted seven top-15s, including four straight top-10s to end his college career.

Upon turning pro last summer, Johnston played every event on the PGA Tour Americas’ Canadian swing, though he mustered only one top-10 finish. That’s when Johnston’s college coach, Matt Thurmond, urged his former player to go play Q-School in Spain. Johnston obliged, rolling through all three stages, including the six-round final stage in Tarragona, Spain, where Johnston fired a pair of 65s and tied for seventh. Johnston then tied for 43rd in his DPWT debut.

Now, just one event later, he’s a DPWT winner, into next year’s Open Championship and up to No. 316 in the Official World Golf Ranking, a climb of over 600 spots.

The expectations just got a lot greater.