By Rubin E. Grant
Ryan Pugh has been playing competitive golf for only three years, but he can already check one thing off his lists of pursuits.
The 13-year-old youngster sank a hole-in-one on the Par 4 16th hole on June 13 at the RTJ Grand National Lake Course in Auburn during the first round of the Southeastern Junior Golf Tour Grand National Junior Classic.
Pugh astounded himself, his playing partners, his dad, other golfers and spectators with his feat.
The pin was 350 yards from the tee, but the fairway doglegs around a lake. Going over the lake cuts the distance to 250 yards.
Pugh decided to go for the green from the tee.
“I did it in practice so I was confident I could get it over the lake,” Pugh said.
Pugh grabbed a 3 wood and let his tee shot fly.
“I heard it hit the pin, but I wasn’t sure it went in the hole,” Pugh said. “Then we heard people screaming and yelling.”
“We couldn’t see it,” said Mark Pugh, Ryan’s dad, who introduced him to the game. “Then people started going nuts. We were yelling, ‘What happened, what happened.’ And they said it went in the hole.”
Ryan Pugh’s immediate reaction? “I couldn’t believe it,” he said.
Pugh’s playing partners Parker Trawick and Camden Yager also were in disbelief.
“They were talking smack before my tee shot, saying I couldn’t hit it over the lake,” Pugh said. “They were amazed.”
Pugh tried to hide his exhilaration. “I just ran up to the green and picked it out of the hole.”
But then he had to regain his composure to finish the round. “Thankfully, I had only a couple more holes to play,” he said.
Pugh, who will be an eighth-grader at Mountain Brook Junior High School in the fall, finished the two-day tournament in second place, shooting a 77 on the first day and a 2-under par 70 on the second day.
Pugh trains with Jordan Dempsey at TPC Sawgrass Performance Center. He has been a member of the SJGT since last year.
“We are extremely fortunate to have young players like Ryan and other junior golfers compete on our tour,” said Todd Thompson, president of the SJGT and tournament director of the RSM Classic, an official PGA Tour event held at Sea Island Golf Resort in southeast Georgia.
“Our mission is to give junior golfers a chance to play competitive golf while building their resume for a potential collegiate golf career. I join our partners Mizuno and Onward Reserve in congratulating Ryan on this most spectacular accomplishment.”
In the spring, Pugh won the first-ever Bobby Plummer Cup as low medalist during the Metro Tournament, helping Mountain Brook to a second-place finish. He and teammate Denton Brooks were named to the All-Metro team.
Pugh will be competing in another SJGT event this week.
