In my many, many moons as a sports writer, I’ve heard the same speech from many a coach: “This kid has got ability, and if he applies himself, he could really turn out to be something.”
That’s something that former Dixon High School golf coach Pat Lessner said about Cole Ruckman 6 years ago.
Ruckman was about as raw as a golfer could get. He didn’t even play the sport until the summer before his freshman year of high school, at the encouragement of his father, Dave, an avid player. Cole considered himself too small for football and basketball, and didn’t really take to baseball, so he decided to give golf a shot.
After a few weeks, he was hooked.
Ruckman was a 4-year regular for the Dukes, and his scoring average went from about 48 as a freshman, to 44 as a sophomore, to 42 as a junior, to 39 as a senior. The last year, in the fall of 2016, he qualified for the Class 2A state tournament in Bloomington, and finished in a six-way tie for 21st place.
Ruckman continued his upward trend at Sauk Valley Community College, where he wrapped up a 2-year run by competing in the NJCAA Division II national championships held May 21-24 in Plymouth, Indiana. He tied for 49th place in a field of 126 golfers with a four-round total of 314 over the 6,805-yard, par-72 Swan Lake course.
He will continue his college golf career this fall at Waldorf University, an NAIA school of about 1,000 students located in Forest City, Iowa, about 120 miles north of Des Moines near the Minnesota border. An interesting tidbit: notable alumni of Waldorf include Henry Waechter, a football player who had two stints for the Chicago Bears, and scored the final points of Super Bowl XX against the New England Patriots with a safety.
Ruckman will major in business management at Waldorf, with a long-range goal of becoming a PGA Professional.
Playing the game, however, is Ruckman’s priority for now. He made it through regional qualifying for Illinois State Amateur tournament on June 12 at PrairieView in Byron, and will be in the field for the state amateur that is slated for July 16-18 at Cantigny Golf in Wheaton.
After that, he will represent Shady Oaks Country Club in the Men’s Lincoln Highway on July 20-21 at Deer Valley.
Shady Oaks was where Cole and myself teed it up on Wednesday for a very relaxed 18 holes. It was so relaxed, in fact, that we didn’t even keep score. I’d guess we both would have been in the mid to upper 70s, had we been inclined to put pencil to scorecard.
Something about Cole: he’s active on social media, often posts sports-related tidbits, and loves to joust with detractors to what he posts.
Also, he’s big Iowa Hawkeyes fan, dating back to the time his cousin, Sean Considine, played safety for the team before embarking on an NFL career. If a high school kid signs with Iowa in just about any sport, or a current Hawkeye does something of note, Cole is all over it, spreading the Iowa gospel.
Yes, I find that slightly annoying as an Illinois fan, but there are a lot more objectionable things on Facebook than some Hawkeye love.
A side note: Cole was one of the witnesses to a hole-in-one made by Dan Koch on the 121-yard ninth hole at Shady Oaks back on June 16. Koch, who made his first ace at the 2018 Lincoln Highway Tournament at Lost Nation, used a gap wedge for the shot. It was witnessed by Ryan Koch, Cole Ruckman and Dave Ruckman.
http://www.saukvalley.com/2019/06/26/ruckman-totally-hooked-on-golf/ayfbdhc/
2019-06-27 04:45:13Z
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