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Ayden Richmond talks about the U.S. Open final qualifying event which he will compete in as something he’ll treat as “just another event.”
But with a shot at qualifying for the U.S. Open, it’s probably going to be a bit more than just another day on the course.
Richmond, a 2022 Geneva graduate, will be teeing off in the U.S. Open qualifying event at Ohio State’s Scarlet Course on Monday, June 3.
A successful day could punch his ticket for a trip to Pinehurst Country Club in North Carolina and one of golf’s biggest venues.
Richmond, who has played the past two seasons at Youngstown State University, said he plans to treat it like any other day on the links.
“I don’t want to get myself too hyped up or anything,” he said. “I know the stakes will be high, but I just want to treat it like any other event.”
Richmond qualified for the finals by firing a round of 3-under-par 69 in a local qualifier on a rainy day at Weymouth Country Club in Medina on April 30.
“It was a grind for a little while,” he said. “But I stayed patient and was able to make some birdies. One-day qualifiers are really cool, as long as you get hot for a day, you can qualify for a little bigger event.
At Weymouth, Richmond was 1-under on the front nine, then birdied holes 10 and 11.
He ran into a little trouble with back to back bogies on 15 and 16, but came back with a birdie on 18 to get in the clubhouse at 3-under.
Then came the hard part. Since he was one of the first golfers out, he had to sit and wait for all the others to come in to see where his score landed.
“It was stressful at times,,”he said. “Coming to the end kind of knowing where you were and with a lot on the stake. I had a lot of people behind me, but my score held up.”
Richmond actually did not start playing golf until his freshman year at Geneva. Coach Zack Mansky can remember him struggling a bit with his swing, but he could also see the natural talent that was there.
“He couldn’t outdrive me when he started, but now he’s 40 yards past me on the fly,” the coach said with a laugh. “You could definitely see his golfing ceiling was very high. He had great natural ability. He started playing a little later in life, so he just had to realize how good he was.”
In high school, Richmond was a two-time regional qualifier.
“He missed going to state by just a couple of strokes,” Mansky said.
Getting his game up to speed so quickly is something Richmond said took “hard work” more than anything else, but he also had to credit the people in his life.
“I had a great coaching staff at Geneva,” Richmond said. “My parents have always supported me as well.”
To qualify for the U.S. Open — which is June 13th-16th — Richmond will have to finish in the top eight of what he says will be a very competitive field at OSU.
“It’ll be tough,” he said. “There’s a lot of [PGA] Tour guys that are looking to get to the Open, a lot of great amateur players. Ohio has some of the best qualifying tournaments,so it will be tough, but I’m excited for the opportunity.”
He’s not the only one. Mansky said he’ll be tuned in as well watching his former student swing for his dreams.
“I will be following the live scoring from the minute he tees off to the minute he finishes his round,” the coach said. “I’m so excited for him.”
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