Ryan Young
JR. | Whitworth UNIVERSITY
GOLF
Hometown: Mill Creek (Jackson High School)
What he did: Recently led the Whitworth men’s golf team to a first-place finish at the Northwest Conference championships and earned a spot at next week’s NCAA Division III tournament. Young shot an NWC-best 151 over two rounds, giving him medalist honors and player-of-the-year designation.
What’s next: Young and his Whitworth teammates will travel to Hershey, Pa., next week to compete in the Division III championships.
The two-minute drill
After shooting a two-round score of 151 at the Northwest Conference championships, you’ve earned the right to be called “conference player of the year.” Do you like the sound of that?
Yeah. I like the fact that it recognizes me as one of the top players in our conference. I know it’s not necessarily true that I’m the best one because if you look over our combined conference stats, I’m not No. 1 — at all. But for that weekend, for the biggest tournament of the season, I came out on top, which is exciting for me.
Was there one particular shot or moment when you realized you might take home medalist honors?
Actually, yeah. In the second round, I was playing in the last group, and it was the 16th hole. I missed the green with a tough chip. I choked my chip, so I was in the collar of the green — still off the green — in this little divot. There was no way to putt it, and I knew I basically had to par out to have a chance to win because I was playing with the two other guys who were right behind me (on the leaderboard). I took out my wedge, and I took kind of a putt-shot with my wedge, from behind the fringe, and it actually rolled in to save par. From there, I was like, wow. That really got me going, and I knew I only had two holes left. Whereas, if I had a bogey, I would’ve given momentum to the other guys I was playing with. That kept me in there and kept my spirit up.
What would you say was the best advice you’ve ever received in terms of improving your game?
It was definitely from my coach (at Whitworth, Warren Friedrichs) earlier this year. Going into the tournament in Moses Lake before the conference championships, he told me that I needed to step up because I hadn’t been playing as well as I usually had. He thought if I started playing like I usually do, we had a really good chance of winning. I started playing smarter, definitely, in the conference championships. Usually, I’m an aggressive player who tries to go for the greens in two and takes aggressive approaches. But I tried to just get it on the fairway, get it on the green, give myself easy spots and play around par. I definitely didn’t put up the most low scores of the tournament, but it was consistent enough where I was able to stay out of trouble. And I was able to contribute a lot to our team success.
What’s your handicap now?
I don’t keep scores during the school year, but I always keep it during the summer when I play at men’s clubs. At the beginning of the fall, the last time I submitted scores, I was a plus-1.
Have you ever had a hole-in-one?
Yeah, actually my freshman year at Jackson High. I was playing for the JV at a tournament up in Cedarcrest. I think it was the third hole, and I got a hole-in-one. That was the only one.
Did you think you’d get plenty more after that?
No, I knew it was super-rare. So I was like: wow, that’s cool that I got mine. You could go your whole life and not get one.
It says in your bio that Tiger Woods is the athlete you admire most. Has that changed?
No. I still love him.
Why’s that?
I definitely don’t agree with the actions he’s done. But he’s still the No. 1 golfer in the world. He plays his best 100 percent of the time. He’s still dedicated to his fans, and he’s finally apologizing. His personal life is his issue. But what he does besides those things — contributing to charities, starting his own foundations — has kind of been forgotten. He’s the biggest role model that anyone could ask for.
Do you think being the Northwest Conference player of the year will give you as much popularity with the ladies as Tiger has?
(Laughs) No, no. I have a girlfriend, so …
And it says in your bio that you play drums and guitar. Are you in a rock band?
No, but in high school I was on the drum line and in jazz band. So I played drums and guitar there. It’s like my side hobby.
Your major is art administration. Is that a fancy way of saying that you want to be an art teacher?
No. With the art administration major, I have minors in Spanish and business as well. I hope to go to grad school and become a golf course architect. With the art major and the Spanish and business backgrounds, hopefully that will increase my portfolio for grad school next year.
What does the Spanish minor have to do with your career plans?
It’s just the fact that a lot of the better golf courses are down in the South, where there are a lot of Spanish-speaking people. I’ll be able to communicate better, I guess. The Spanish minor is more of a hobby. I like the Spanish culture. It was a thing my buddy and I wanted to learn more about in junior high school, and I stuck with it in high school.
When you’re on the golf course, is there a part of you looking around and thinking about the architecture?
Yeah, all the time. Ever since I decided that this is where I wanted my career to go, I’ve always been aware of where they decided to put bunkers, and where they put water, things like that to put more pressure on the golfer. In the last tournament we played, the championship, the last three holes are really tough holes; you need to hit your drive in a certain spot. If you’re getting nervous or don’t have control of your game, you’re going to get penalized in the water. I know course designers like to do that. Someday, hopefully I’ll be able to do that myself.
Are you going to design a course to cater especially toward your game?
No. You’ve always got to put it in the perspective of all level of golfers. You can’t make it impossible for golfers or nobody will come and play.
Would it be possible to design a course where you could beat Tiger?
(Laughs) Uh, that would be tough. I don’t know. I’m pretty sure Tiger could perform on any course he wants to. That’s why I love him.
Scott M. Johnson, Herald Writer
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