Jug Mountain West: The 97th Men’s Amateur Championship

Cole Rueck

Cole Rueck and Josh Gliege see each other a handful of times each year on the road with their respective college golf teams. But on Saturday at Jug Mountain Ranch — in the 97th playing of the Idaho Men’s Amateur Championship presented by St. Lukes Health — the Mountain West conference rivals saw their names appear on the same leaderboard for the very first time.  

Josh Gliege | Claire McCormick

These days, Gliege’s life as a player has largely morphed into that of a coach; and he spends much of his time recruiting players like Rueck to play for San Diego State University, where he serves as assistant coach. So, when he stepped onto the first tee for Saturday’s final round, two shots clear of the Boise State standout (and seven-shots clear of Dylan Rodgers who joined the final pairing in a tie for third), Gliege knew exactly what kind of player he had standing between him and a second Men’s Amateur title.   

“These guys are good,” Gliege said with a chuckle after his second-round, course-record-tying 66, alluding to Rueck’s runner-up finish at the Sunnehanna Amateur last month. Rueck followed his performance at the Sunnehanna with a third-place finish at the Oregon Amateur and birdied six of his final 10 holes to pull within two shots of Gliege thru two rounds.  

Both players found the fairway on the first, followed by flag-seeking approaches to deliver an opening putt off. One putt from Rueck and three from Gliege sent the front runners into the remaining 17 holes tied at the top. Rodgers made birdie hang five shots back.  

“Funny enough it was my worst warmup of the three days, so I was really fighting my swing on the range” Rueck said. “So, I was kinda just waiting to see what I had out there, and I hit a perfect tee shot and a perfect approach — and from there it was my best ball striking day actually.”   

The par-5 second, which played as the easiest hole this week, sent Rueck’s approach tumbling through the green and into Jug Mountain’s notorious native area. He hacked it across the green, chipped up and missed his par putt. Gliege’s two-putt par restored his two-shot lead. Rodgers birdied to keep hanging with the leaders. 

Gliege pulled further ahead on the third after he and Rodgers stuffed their tee shots into a back-left funnel pin. Rueck, skipping through the green, played a delightful chip well away from the hole, using the contours to walk away with a tap-in par and three shot deficit.  

Cole Rueck walking of 8 green | Claire McCormick

But Rueck, it seemed, was just warming up. Gliege’s lead shrunk to two on the 4th as Rueck poured in a 20-footer for birdie and shrunk to nothing on the 5th when Gliege bogeyed the short par-4 and Rueck made birdie. Pars at the 6th and three-shot par-5 7th sent them to the 8th where Gliege followed Rueck’s hole-high approach into the bunker. He failed to get up and down; Rueck poured in his third birdie in five holes. Suddenly, the Bronco led the Aztec coach by two.   

After trading pars at the 10th (as Rodgers made birdie to inch his way closer to the front runners at five-under par), Gliege knocked a wedge in close at the 11th while Rueck scuttled his approach short of the front edge from under a tree right of the fairway. Failing to get his chip to check, Rueck left himself a long effort for par, setting up a potential two shot swing to send the leaders back into a tie at the top. But Rueck made the putt, and Gliege remained one back.  

With tees pushed up on the short but trouble-rich par-4 12th, all three players laid back to fire wedges into a front hole location. Gliege played first but was unable to get his wedge to spin off the top shelf. Rueck knocked it inside of a foot, tapping in before Gliege’s birdie effort grazed the edge of the hole. Gliege and Rueck played the next three holes in one-under par (birdie-par-par), arriving at the 16th tee with two shots between them. 

The final stretch at Jug Mountain Ranch — playing back toward its namesake Jughandle peak — is notorious and inexplicably nameless. It’s a gauntlet of holes that, like a kiln, forges champions and eviscerates pretenders.  

“On anyone of those last holes you can make birdie, or you can make a big number.” Gliege said after his second round in which he finished birdie-par-par. Rueck, after finishing birdie-bogey-par with a lost ball on the 17th, said the intimidation of the fairway or bust tee shots set a razors edge between birdie and a billion.  

Holding the honor, Rueck stepped up and sent a high cut soaring over the corner of the trees to find the fairway. Gliege, knowing he needed to make up ground, played even more aggressively, taking on as much of the corner as anyone would ever dare. But after a long search on both sides of the fairway, he returned to the tee and found the penalty area again. Rueck laid up and took a two-putt par as Gliege made eight, falling five shots behind with two to play.  

While Gliege battled back with a birdie as Rueck found the penalty area leading to a bogey, the two-shot swing sent the Boise State senior to the home hole with a three-shot lead. He went on to win by four, punching his ticket to the U.S. Amateur.  

“It feels great,” Rueck said. “I’ve been playing some really good golf and I’ve just been happy to put myself in contention so many times to the point where I feel more comfortable. Today I knew it was likely going to be a two-man race because we were so far ahead of the rest, so I was just looking at it as match play with a little disadvantage to start.”  

Rueck will take the Scott Masingill cup as he heads to Tahoe this week for the Barracuda Championship on the PGA Tour this week, which he qualified for by winning the Genesis Invitational Collegiate Showcase at Torrey Pines for a second year in a row.

“I’m super excited,” he said. “Just another dream come true to be able to play in a Tour event.”