COLUMN: Johnston drawing attention from NCAA's elite

Ryggs Johnston is well known.

The Libby golfer, just 15 years old, is not only one of the best golfers in Montana, he is increasingly one of the most sought after golfers in the country.

Johnston is a plus handicap (+2.8) with a pair of state junior titles, a state prep title, the all-class prep record for low score in a state tournament and an entry in the U.S. Amateur all on his considerable resume by the close of his freshman year in high school.

By any measure, he can already be considered one of the best junior golfers in state history, even as he still has three more years to stockpile accolades.

Those performances, especially the parade of low scores and high finishes on the national junior circuit, haven’t gone unnoticed.

As Yahoo! national sports columnist Dan Wetzel chronicled on his blog last week, no fewer than a dozen college coaches and assistant coaches kept an eye on the young phenom as he stormed Red Run Golf Course in suburban Detroit for a final-round 66 and a third place finish at the Western Junior Championship, one of the country’s most prestigious junior golf tournaments.

That attention is largely because Johnston, even at his young age, is one of the few golfers of his caliber that are currently unsigned to a college scholarship.

The two kids that finished ahead of him in Detroit? The winner was a 16-year-old son of a former PGA Tour player from Los Angeles already committed to UCLA. In second place was an 18-year-old high school graduate headed to Rice University in the fall.

Golfers the caliber of Johnston are typically identified quickly and funneled to big programs early in their careers.

However, with no big in-state program to take note of his first hole-in-one at age 8, what may be one of the biggest additions in the country was allowed to grow up as a largely unknown kid in a tiny town on the edge of Montana.

“It’s been a big learning process,” said Cindy Ostrem-Johnston, Ryggs’ mother.

“We didn’t even know what the Flathead Valley Junior Tour was when he was 8. We’ve learned a lot along the way.”

Ostrem-Johnston is the head volleyball coach at Libby High School for the last 23 years and has been involved with helping a few players get recruited in her time. Nothing to this scale.

The Johnstons have had a lot of help in finding their way to high-level golf. They met Kalispell’s Jerad Avery at the Flathead Valley Junior Tour, who himself had to negotiate the new world with his daughter Teigan just a few years before. Avery has helped at every step, including an introduction to Ryggs’ swing coach Floyd Horgan, who first tipped the Johnstons off that they may have a special talent on their hands and has handled recruiting calls ever since. Ostrem-Johnston also used her 20-year relationship with University of Idaho volleyball coach Debbie Buchanan to ask what the important questions and qualities they should be looking for during college visits, and how best to stay in touch with coaches during the recruiting process.

Ever the tactician, Ostrem-Johnston made sure to maximize their schedule while on the road. They met Arizona State coach Tim Mickelson (brother of Phil) first, three years ago at the Junior America’s Cup. Two years ago it was the coaches at UNLV, then Arizona.

Coaches have made sure it wasn’t a one-way street as well. While they can’t say anything more than, “Hi,” to Ryggs off-campus until July 1, 2018, they make sure to be seen. Oregon assistant coach Van Williams made a trip to Thompson Falls this winter to watch Ryggs play basketball. The Johnstons made the trip to Eugene shortly after for an unofficial visit, where head coach Casey Martin missed a good friend’s wedding to talk to Ryggs. The Johnstons spent Easter Sunday visiting with UNLV coaches Dwaine Knight and Phil Rowe, Rowe leaving for a few minutes to attend an egg hunt with his kids.

Ostrem-Johnston said she’d love for Ryggs to choose somewhere relatively close, so she could watch her boy play without spending a fortune to do so. Ever the coach, she’s also stressing the importance of academics along with the level of competition and facilities at each location. That said, she doesn’t want to hold Ryggs’ back in his decision, even if it sends him across the country.

The day after finishing third at the Western Junior in Detroit, Ryggs carded a 2-under-par 70 at Tanglewood Golf Club to qualify for the World Junior Championships in San Diego. Before heading back to Montana, he shoehorned in a meeting a half hour away at the University of Michigan, which offered a full ride scholarship on first sight. It was his fourth full ride offer of the weekend, adding to those from UNLV, Arizona and national champion Oregon.

While that may seem routine, full ride offers don’t just happen in men’s golf. Because of Title IX restrictions, men’s golf teams typically only get 4 1/2 scholarships to split between the entire team, which sometimes can stretch up to 15 players. For a full ride to be offered, a school has to really believe in a golfer and his ability to rise the tides of the team to a championship level.

For the same reasons, coaches get antsy with a full ride on the table, which would explain why so many elite golfers commit so early. Those opportunities don’t last forever.

Ryggs still plans to visit Stanford, among a few other schools, during his trip to San Diego in two weeks which could yield more opportunity and the course will likely again be crawling with coaches looking for a glimpse of the lanky Montanan.

Ostrem-Johnston said she and Ryggs are keeping coaches in the loop during the recruiting bustle, and making sure they know exactly when a decision has to be made.

“It’s exciting and stressful at the same time,” Ostrem-Johnston said of the experience.

“It’s kind of nerve wracking. There’s so many schools out there and it seems like every one we visit has a lot of great aspects about it, and all the coaches have been wonderful.”

With those options on the table, whichever choice he makes will be a good landing spot.

In the meantime, Ryggs will keep golfing, and likely pretty well.

After all, that’s how he’s becoming so well known.