It is shaping up to be a busy and eventful summer of golf for Luke Ringkamp. That big summer started Tuesday on Ringkamp’s home course of Ironwood Country Club in Palm Desert.
Chipping in for an eagle on his first hole of the day, then chipping in for a birdie to close out his opening nine, Ringkamp handled the South Course at Ironwood and the rest of the 81-player field in a U.S. Open local qualifying tournament.
“It’s almost like brushing my teeth here,” Ringkamp said after earning medalist honors with a 5-under 67, two shots better than anyone else in the field. “I can tell you every grain, every break in these greens. It’s definitely nice to play here.”
By finishing among the top five in the qualifier, Ringkamp advances to a final qualifying tournament in Sacramento June 8. A strong performance there could put Ringkamp into the U.S. Open June 18-21 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southhampton, N.Y.
Ringkamp ran away from the field early Tuesday. Starting on the par-5 10th hole, Ringkamp hit a poor drive into the trees to the right of the fairway, found a gap and hit a low shot through the green, then chipped down with the ball trickling into the cup for a 3.
Ringkamp, 18, then added birdies on the 11th and 13th holes to reach 4-under through four holes. From there, he added at the 15th and 18th holes around a bogey on the par-3 17th. The birdie on the par-4 18th came after he missed the green by a few feet to the left but chipped in for the second time in the round.
From there, Ringkamp stayed steady with one birdie and one bogey on his final nine holes. When he finished, Ringkamp received a round of applause from Ironwood golfers in about a dozen carts who had followed him through much of the back nine.
“I honestly was just trying to stay in focus and I had no idea what I was at,” Ringkamp said. “I couldn’t tell you. I was just having fun with my caddie (Mike Walton, who like Ringkamp was a star at Palm Desert High School 33 years ago) and just fun playing the course.”
Four golfers finished at 69 to fill out the five automatic berths into the final qualifying stage, including golfers from Washington, New Mexico, Brazil and Italy.
For Ringkamp, who skipped playing high school golf at Palm Desert this year to focus on his amateur career before heading to Pepperdine as a freshman in the fall, the medalist honors Tuesday added to a busy schedule before starting college golf. That schedule will include his first start in a professional tournament, the Memorial Health Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour June 25-28, the week after the U.S. Open.
The rest of the summer included a team American Junior Golf Association event in Florida in a week, the U.S. Open final qualifier in a month, the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship in Pennsylvania, the Western Amateur in Illinois and a qualifying tournament for the U.S. Amateur.
“And some time I have to go to Malibu (where Pepperdine is located,” Ringkamp said. “Aug. 24 is the first class, when the bell rings.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Sizzling start pushes Luke Ringkamp to U.S. Open qualifying win
Reporting by Larry Bohannan, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
