Unheralded American Ryggs Johnston can barely believe the company he’s now in after crashing the party with a stunning and most improbable Australian Open triumph in Melbourne.
The world No.954 emerged from a big pack of home hopes to steal the Stonehaven Cup with a nerveless final-round four-under-par 68 at Kingston Heath on Sunday.
With his girlfriend’s father carrying his bag as a makeshift caddie and with no ambitions to win, Johnston finished three shots clear of former amateur sensation Curtis Luck with an 18-under 269 victory total.
Astonishingly, the victory was the 24-year-old’s first in a four-round tournament of any kind since high school.
More famous for his naming after Mel Gibson’s Lethal Weapon character than for his golfing prowess, Johnston joins golf’s greatest legends like Nicklaus, Palmer and Player on the trophy.
“It’s just really cool to be in group that’s with those guys,” he said.
“And I’m just pretty honoured to be able to put my name on it now, and I’ll cherish this moment forever.”
But the mild-mannered country boy from Montana is happy enough to still be known as Ryggs.
“Captain Ryggs’ Lethal Weapon,” he beamed.
“My dad’s side of the family has a bunch of ‘R’ names and they had to get creative after a while because he had five siblings.
“So they took a bunch of them off the table there and they came up with Ryggs.”
Also going by “The Big Slick”, Johnston started the final round as equal leader with Lucas Herbert and went on with the job as the Victorian sentimental favourite unravelled.
Herbert cursed the greens repeatedly during his closing two-over round of 74 and eventually slumped to fifth at 12 under, six shots adrift of Johnston.
The 28-year-old cruelly missed a berth at next year’s British Open by two shots.
Instead runner-up Luck, at 15 under after a fine championship Sunday 68, and Herbert’s LIV Golf teammate Marc Leishman booked their tickets to Royal Portrush with coveted top-three showings.
Leishman pulled to within one shot of the lead before his hopes perished in the trees and sand en route to a double-bogey six on the 16th.
But the Warrnambool fan favourite drained a clutch five-foot birdie putt at penultimate hole in his final-round 69 to finish equal third at 14 under.
Jasper Stubbs also ended at 14 under but the world No.1486 lost out to the 575th-ranked Leishman on a countback for a trip to Northern Ireland.
Unable to accrue rankings points since defecting to the Saudi-backed rebel league, 2015 British Open runner-up Leishman hasn’t contested a major since 2022.
Luck, once the world’s top-ranked amateur who lost his Korn Ferry Tour card this year in the US, will be returning to the major scene for the first time since his one and only appearance in 2017 when he tied for 46th at the Masters.
