The ISPS Handa Australian Open

24-year-old Montana native Ryggs Johnston finished in first place at the ISPS Handa Australian Open; The tournament was held at the reputable Kingston Heath Golf Course in Melbourne. The young American churned out regular rounds under par to have him reach 18-under-par on the Sunday to win by 3 strokes, and leave a trio of Aussies in his wake.

Hot out the gates by making 8 birdies in his opening round, Johnston maintained this momentum to stay in the top-5 all tournament long. He pulled ahead of Lucas Herbert on the final round with Herbert dropping 2 shots. Curtis Luck briefly shot into the lead but he made bogeys on the final two holes, giving Johnston the opportunity to overtake him.

The defending champion Joaquin Niemann finished in tied-5^th; Despite an 8-under-par third round he failed to replicate his efforts on the final day. Australia’s own Curtis Luck, Marc Leishman, and Jasper Stubbs also fell short of the trophy, and they finished in 2^nd and tied-3^rd respectively.

When asked whether he anticipated a win, the American admitted he hadn’t “To be honest probably not, I turned up pretty tired already from all the travel and everything. I didn’t get a practice round here with the weather so I didn’t really have any expectations, which probably helped me in the end.”

Quite astoundingly, the win at the Australian Open was the American’s first in any four-round tournament of any time since high school. This monumental win catapulted Johnston up the Official World Golf Rankings from position 954 to 316. Winning on just his second DP World Tour start, he gains his card for the upcoming 2025 Race to Dubai season via the Qualifying School. He was understandably thrilled at how busy next year will now be for him:

“It feels great I mean just knowing there are more playing opportunities and getting into bigger events. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet but it’s an amazing feeling.”

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