ATHENS — It was an experience few of us will ever get to know. For Spencer Ralston, he’s hoping to make it commonplace.
“This is what I want to do as a profession so my goal is to be here again as many times as I can,” the former Gainesville High and University of Georgia golfing standout said about his first-ever appearance in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego last week.
Ralston made the 155-man field for the annual event through a series of qualifiers. One dream down, many more to go was how he viewed it.
“I had tried to qualify several times but just missed. I made the quarterfinals at the U.S. Amateur (2019), but they take the guys that make the semifinals, so I just missed there,” he said. “So when I did qualify this time it felt great. It’s hard to get into the field.
“It was everything I thought it would be. It’s just a first-class event. It was just a lot of fun all around.”
But it wasn’t all about the golf.
“We had the Amateur dinner on Monday with the U.S. Open executives and Andy North was also there,” Ralston said. “There were nine of us, and most of us had played against each other before in college, so we knew each other pretty well. So, that was really fun. All the Georgia alums like Bubba Watson, Kevin Kisner, Russell Henley, Brendon Todd, and (former UGA teammate) Grayson Sigg -- we all got together for a dinner and that was a lot of fun.
“It was pretty busy before the tournament actually got started, but I think that also helped me kill some time to not be nervous and get ready. But each day we got closer to the start there was a little more tension from everyone. You could tell that it was getting serious.”
For Ralston’s father, Mitch, who played at Clemson in his youth, it was a lifetime highlight.
“Seeing him here, where we all wanted to get as a player, was very special. There are a ton of guys who have won on the tour that never get to play the (U.S.) Open. It's special,” Mitch said. “He has worked so hard to get to this point and we’re all very proud of him. So, when you see someone get to live out a dream like that, it’s a lot of fun. But I think the best part was that our entire family was able to watch him play in the U.S. Open. It was a great moment for the whole family.”
As for the golf itself, on Thursday, it resembled more of a nightmare than a dream to possibly come true. Ralston was set to tee off late -- at 2:31 local time -- but fog in the morning pushed his start to 4:01 with little chance of completing his round before darkness set in.
He then started slow with bogeys on three of his first four holes, beginning on No. 10. He bogeyed his 10th hole (No. 1) before getting his first birdie on No. 2. Play was halted with four holes left.
However, after falling to 5-over, he birdied his final hole (No. 9) of the opening round to get within one shot of the cut line at that time.
“That was huge for me,” he said of his birdie to finish the first round. “I wasn’t playing all that great, so to finish up with a birdie and then have to get right back out there kind of got me going mentally.”
At the start of the second round was when Ralston, and his family, said they realized just how big the moment was.
“The first day I started at 10 and they kind of bus you out there, and there aren’t any announcements or anything. You started playing when the horn blew,” Spencer said. “The start of the second round was when it really hit me I think."
"To hear your son's name called in one of the top golf tournaments in the world is really an exciting time," Mitch said. "I was able to video that moment on my phone so I would have it saved in our memories. It is just a very awesome moment as a parent when you get to see one of your children having success doing something they love and have worked so hard for."
“The first tee was surrounded by the gallery and then they announce your name. That’s when it felt like a U.S. Open to me," Spencer recalled. "I had always wanted to be in that spot and here I was. It kind of pumped me up.”
Apparently so. He fired out of the gates with birdies on three of his first four holes, sandwiched around a bogey at No. 2, to get to 2-over and inside of the projected cutline. At the time, he was tied for low-amateur in the field.
But it was still the U.S. Open and Torrey Pines. Ralston bogeyed Nos. 7, 11, and 12 to fall to 5-over but just one shot off the new projected cut at 4-over. He got back to 4-over with a birdie on the Par 4 14th.
However, back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 16 and 17 ended his chances for a long weekend.
“The course was very difficult, probably one of the hardest I’ve ever played. But it was fair. If you hit good shots, you got rewarded. If you hit a bad shot, you got punished,” he said. “In retrospect, it was probably my B-game, not my A-game. I played well at times, but I definitely feel like I left some shots out there.”
His dad, who has watched him play all the way from a junior, agreed.
“I thought he played well at times,” Mitch said. “I also think there were shots he normally makes that were a little off. But overall, I thought it was a good showing for a U.S. Open for someone who had never played in an event like that. I was extremely proud of him and how he handled himself.”
Ralston plans to turn pro this week and will begin his professional journey on Wednesday in a Forme Tour event at Jennings Mill in Athens, a course he knows well.
For about an hour on Friday, Ralston’s dream was close to turning into reality as he was in line to make the cut for the weekend against the likes of Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy, Henley, Dustin Johnson, and eventual winner Jon Rahm.
What did he learn from his week in San Diego rubbing elbows with the world’s golfing elite?
“I have a lot to work on to get that level of consistency,” he said. “But I feel I can play at this level. I was close to making the weekend.
“This is all I’ve ever wanted to do. I can’t wait to get started on my career.”
