SANTA ROSA, Calif. -- Former Libby golf phenom Ryggs Johnston tied for fourth place at the Pac-12 Conference men's golf championships on Wednesday.
Now a sophomore at Arizona State, Johnston finished 12-under-par at the four-round tournament at Mayacama Golf Club. He sat in first place after Monday's two rounds and was still tied atop the leader board after Round 3, which golfers finished on Tuesday, but Johnston shot an even-par 72 on Wednesday to finish the tournament with 276 total strokes and slip into a fourth-place tie with teammate Chun An Yu.
Henry Shimp of Stanford fired a tournament-best 8-under-par 64 in Wednesday's round to climb four spots and finish in a first-place tie with Brad Reeves of Arizona. Reeves won a two-hole playoff to claim individual medalist honors and help Arizona to the team title.
Reeves and Shimp finished the four rounds 16-under-par with 272 total strokes, followed by Oregon's Yuki Moriyama with 273.
Johnston started the tournament with a 67 in Round 1 on Monday and followed it up with a 66 in Round 2, the low score of the round. He shot 71 in Round 3 and 72 in Round 4.
Johnston's performance helped Arizona State to a second-place team finish behind rival Arizona, which won the conference championship with a combined 1,399 strokes, four clear of the second-place Sun Devils.
Full results of the Pac-12 Conference men's golf championships can be found here.
Johnston won four Montana high school state championships on the links, winning Class B state titles in the springs of 2016 and 2017 and Class A championships in the falls of 2017 and 2018 after Libby moved up a classification between the 2016-17 and 2017-18 academic years. He holds both the Class A and Class B records for best state meet performances. He first set the Class B record of 128 strokes in the spring of 2017 and then got the Class A record that fall with 134 strokes.
