Gators golfer Ricky Castillo eager to test is game at U.S. Open
While his father, Mark, and big brother, Derek, waited for him in the golf cart, young Ricky Castillo suddenly would take off sprinting down the fairway after his ball — too eager to wait for anyone before taking another whack at it.
Castillo has been on the fast track ever since those formative years in Southern California. The 19-year-old’s boundless enthusiasm and appetite for the game have carried him to the upper reaches of amateur golf and now to the first tee of the 2020 U.S. Open.
“That’s all I did … I just wanted to go to the golf course,” Castillo, a Florida Gators sophomore, recalls now. “I was so excited the first few times I went, after I hit the shot I wouldn’t go back in the cart. I would just run to the next shot because I was so excited to play.”
When Castillo tees it up Thursday at venerable Winged Foot Golf Club in New York, his love of golf and his formidable talents are sure to be tested.
Castillo, who earned All-America honors as a freshman during a pandemic-shortened spring, has been able to handle pretty much everything that’s come his way on the golf course. The world’s second-ranked amateur also has never faced a venue considered the gold standard or a tournament that challenges every facet of a player’s ability.
“Nothing gets more difficult than a U.S. Open at Winged Foot,” Castillo said.
Ankle-deep rough and towering trees line narrow, firm fairways to severely penalize players who miss them. Doglegs on a number of holes force golfers to shape their tee shots and control their distance to keep the ball in the short grass. Pinpoint iron shots are required to perplexing green complexes and sloping putting surfaces, otherwise golfers must gouge the ball from thick grass or navigate the course’s deep bunkering.
The 1974 U.S. Open is famously known as the “Massacre at Winged Foot,” but the nickname applies to the experience of most anyone who has played golf’s national championship there.
During five U.S. Opens staged at Winged Foot dating to Bobby Jones' 1929 playoff victory to Geoff Ogilvy’s 2006 win following Phil Mickelson’s final-hole collapse, one golfer completed his tournament under par — Fuzzy Zoeller in 1984.
Castillo’s first professional event is sure to be an eye-opening experience, but not a soul-crushing one, regardless of how he performs.
“I’m really excited I get to see where my game is,” Castillo said.
UF coach JC Deacon, a former professional and recent Florida Open winner, said Castillo and his game are mature beyond their years.
Castillo arrived in Gainesville as the nation’s No. 1 recruit in the 2019. Yet, he has grown by leaps and bounds to become a force at the college level and capable of competing alongside the world’s best at Winged Foot.
“If he gets comfortable and goes out there and does his thing, he can play, man. He can really play,” Deacon said. “He can hit it really far and he has one of the best short games in the world right now. Nothing he will do at this tournament will surprise me.”
The 6-foot-1, 155-pound native of Yorba Linda, Calif., has packed on 30 pounds to add another dimension to a well-rounded game.
“It’s a lot easier for someone who is 155 pounds to swing it faster than somebody who is 125 pounds,” Castillo said. “But it’s been challenging to put on this much weight. It’s taken a lot of working out and a lot of eating.”
Castillo did not begin to feast on collegiate fields until he made a Starbucks run one day with Deacon.
After losing during the round of 16 at the 2019 U.S. Amateur, Castillo did not earn a spot on the Walker Cup team — one of his big goals. The disappointment carried over into UF’s 2019 fall season, when he failed to crack the top-15 during four events.
“Part of me felt like I had something to prove, I was just trying so hard,” Castillo said. “Every time I would hit a bad shot, I would get so frustrated and so upset.”
One day, Deacon asked Castillo to join him on a drive to pick up coffee.
“He said, ‘You can’t keep doing this to yourself, just letting one shot affect you so much instead of just controlling what you can control and trying to play golf,’” Castillo recalled. "That really made a difference when I went into the spring. All I can control is how I react and the process before the shot.
“That one little thing just made a huge difference.”
The results — two wins and a tie for sixth before the shutdown — speak for themselves, earning him the Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman Award.
“He was unbeatable in February and March,” Deacon said of Castillo.
Six months later, Castillo could be a bit starstruck this week at Winged Foot.
Sharing the same practice range with Tiger Woods, his idol, and Mickelson, who lost at Winged Foot when Castillo was 5, would be a lot to process for any teenager — even a prodigy.
But Castillo does not plan to shy away from the challenge or change his approach. The kid who used to race on foot around the fairways back home also plans to slow down and enjoy the experience of a lifetime.
“It’s obviously going to be cool and stuff, but they’re there for one reason — to win,” Castillo said. “That’s how I want to be. I’m there to play golf, just like them.”
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Edgar Thompson at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com.
———
©2020 The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.)
Visit The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.) at www.OrlandoSentinel.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
