LIBBY — Montanan Ryggs Johnston won the Australian Open on Dec. 1, his first professional golf victory as a member of the European Tour.
On Friday, his hometown of Libby showed him some love and support with a victory parade in his honor.
“For them to throw me a parade for one win is, I mean it was a cool win, but it's just awesome that I was able to do that for Libby and that Libby thinks that highly of me,” Johnston told MTN Sports
Johnston, 24, also said this is the first time he has celebrated a tournament victory, and he recalled the winning putt and the moment he joined the list of winners of the Australian Open that includes Americans such as Jordan Spieth, Brad Faxon, Mark Calcavecchia, Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer and Gene Sarazen.
“It's been a while since I’ve won and that first pro win’s pretty cool,” Johnston said. “When that (putt) went in it was just like such a sigh of relief and wow I actually did this.”
Members of the Libby community had no problem celebrating this victory with Johnston because many of them were there when he was a kid who dreamed about going pro.
Among those community members was Johnston’s high school coach Dann Rohrer, who coached him through four individual Class A state championships at Libby High School.
“It's a pride thing, it's a community pride and he's done wonders for the community for him to come back and do this,” Rohrer said. “We're super proud and glad he's he's one of us and very much so.
“He hunts and fishes and and loves the Kootenai in this whole area and born and raised here and he's made us proud. He's really made us proud.”
With his victory in the Australian open, Johnston has received an invitation to the 2025 Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland July 17-20, 2025.
