The article in The Great Falls Tribune leading up to the 2009 Montana State Amateur men’s golf tournament was offensive on multiple fronts.

Funny enough, I was offended on behalf of the Butte Country Club, and I grew up playing at the Muni. I was also offended on behalf of some of the best golfers from the Mining City, and I no longer played the game.

The State Am was about to be played at the Butte Country Club for the first time since 1999, when Butte Sports Hall of Famer Rick Lyons pulled off a six-shot win over 1998 champion Eddie Kavran of Dillon and Reid Lende of Livingston.

That, by the way, was the worst beating Kavran took since I thumped him by one shot to win the 1992 Butte Central Invitational at the Muni.

The Great Falls story did mention Lyons, but only to say that he was semi-retired from tournament competition and there was “no local player to carry the torch.”

After the first two days of the tournament, 18-year-old Butte player Ty Wengel was tied for the lead. He had a heck of a chance to win the thing had he not been disqualified by a silly rule during the third round of the four-day tournament.

Wengel threw his driver at his bag. Later, he noticed that the throw dented his putter, and he putted with it after it was “altered.” He reported the incident, and, golf being golf, that was a disqualifiable offense.

Ty’s father, Bob Wengel, tied with Butte’s Jon Johnstone for fifth place in the tournament.

While that might not qualify as “carrying the torch” for Lyons, who is particularly deadly on his home course, it showed that we clearly had some local talent playing.

The worst part of the story, though, was the way it ripped apart the Country Club, which will always be my one of my favorite courses.

Yes, the Butte Country Club is a short course compared to modern standards. The club was established in 1899, and that dates back to a time before it was socially acceptable for “men” to push their clubs on a cart. It was designed long before modern technology made it so any guy with goofy pants and an oversized head on his driver can hit the ball 280 yards.

The Club is a throwback, and I felt the story took some shots at that when it should have been praising the historic course.

Some players apparently took the Great Falls story to heart as they talked about somebody shooting in the 50s over the four days. The story, after all, reminded them that Billings golfer Kelbi Lee once shot a 60 on the par-70 course when playing in a Montana Tech tournament for Rocky Mountain College.

Yes, Lee did shoot a 60. You can never scoff at a round that low, no matter the circumstances.

But, with all due respect, he did not do that during a tournament in which the grounds crew was geared up to protect par. He did not do that in the State Amateur.

When the grounds crew wants to get sadistic, not many courses in the state can defend par like the Butte Country Club. They do that by growing out the rough, speeding up the greens and putting the pins in placements that can range from unfair to masochistic.

The silliness of that Great Falls story was slowly exposed as the tournament played out. The writer probably wanted to burn all copies when Missoula golfer Bill Dunn won the tournament at even par. Only 10 of the 120 or so players came within 10 strokes of par that week.

When Lyons won in 1999, he shot a 9-under-par 271 for the four days. He was one of just three players to break par — Kavran and Lende were the others at minus 3.

That is why what 18-year-old Ryggs Johnston of Libby did to the Bute Country Club in 2018 was so impressive.

Johnston, who was about to be a senior in high school, ran away with the tournament title with a three-day score of 197. That is 13 shots under par. Johnston opened with a 68, then shot a 62 and a 67.

He would have pushed 20-under had the tournament still been four days.

Bozeman’s Joey Jovell, who played a pretty dang good tournament himself, placed second at 205. He hit a pair of 69s and a 67. Lovell went on to win the State Am in 2021 and 2022, while Billings golfer Joey Moore, who placed third at 208, won the event in 2019 and 2023.

Lovell celebrated his runner-up finish in 2018 by getting a photo with Johnston because he knew that he might be playing on television someday.

That day has come. Johnston, who easily won four individual State titles (in Class B and Class A) in high school playing for the Libby Loggers, made the cut at the British Open at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Portrush, Northern Ireland.

(Yes, I call it the British Open.)

Johnston shot a 74 on the first round before firing seven birdies and shooting a 5-under-par 66 on Friday to make the cut. Only seven players, including champion Scottie Scheffler, shot a better score over the four-day tournament.

Johnston, now 25, hit a 74 on Saturday and again on Sunday. He qualified to play in his first major by winning the Australian Open in Melbourne in December. That came after he earned All-American honors playing golf at Arizona State.

At the Butte Country Club in 2018, Johnston went wire to wire for the win. His 69 on the first day gave him a one-shot lead over Lovell, Moore, Sean Benson and Chris Goldan of Bozeman. Then, he buried the field with that 62 on Day 2.

One thing that seemed pretty apparent to the large number of players and fans following Johnston on Day 3 is that he could have shot much lower than 67 had he needed to on the final round. Instead, he played it conservatively as he matched the second-best score of the 333 rounds played by the tournament field.

It was not just that Johnston won the 2018 State Am at the Country Club that was impressive. It was not just the scores he shot.

What stands out is how the best players in the state all knew that they were playing for second place. Most had pretty much conceded that the high school star was going to win before they teed off.

Benson, a Billings native who is the greatest golfer in the history of the Montana Tech program, marveled at how well Johnston was playing.

As I walked up to Benson’s group during the back nine of the second round, I asked if he was making a run for the lead.

“No way,” Benson said. “It’s over. Ryggs is going crazy today.”

To Johnston, the course seemed easy. It seemed easy only to Johnston.

“On this course I think I can go low any day,” Johnston said after his 62. “It’s short. Just keep it in play, hit some good wedge shots and make some putts. I did that today, and the number shows.”

The State Am was played in Butte six times over the last 52 summers. In addition to 1999, 2009 and 2018, the state’s best golfers competed at the Butte Country Club in 1974, 1979 and 1986.

That means the tournament should be rolling back into town again in the next few years.

Johnston is now a professional, so he will not be in the field.

So, that 2018 tournament just might go down as the last time anybody makes the Butte Country Club look easy.

 — Bill Foley, who never made any course look easy, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 or Bluesky at @foles74.bsky.social. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.