Day One Division 1 Golf Finals: Seaholm’s Francesco Ruffino In The Hunt

ROCHESTER – sophomore Francesco Ruffino wasn’t thrilled with his performance on the first day of the Division 1 state golf finals at the Katke-Cousins Golf Course on Friday.

Ruffino shot a three-over-par 75 to finish four strokes back of the individual leaders. Otto Black from Pickney and Max Rispler from Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central were tied for the lead at 71.

Ruffino had an up-and-down day that culminated with a frustrating final three holes (Ruffino started the day on No. 4 and finished on No. 3). He had a chance for birdies on No. 1 and No. 3, but missed two makeable putts to finish with pars on both holes.

On No. 2 he hit a tee shot to the right of the fairway in three-foot tall grass. He recovered with a shot to the green only to miss his putt for par.

After his threesome handed in their scorecards for the day, he spent a few minutes talking about the round with Patch.

Patch: How did you feel about your overall performance today? 

Francisco Ruffino: I didn’t do as well as I would’ve liked, definitely. Lot of makeable putts just didn’t fall today. I didn’t have much rhythm. I was a little off. I’m going to go over to the range, work on it a little bit and I’ll be ready for tomorrow.

Patch: You missed birdie putts on two of the last three holes you golfed. Was that the one area where you thought you could have been more consistent today?

Ruffino: I had four three putts. You can’t do that, it’s very frustrating. But I made a lot of silly mistakes today. Fifty yards out I wouldn’t even get it within 20 feet. Stuff I do pretty regularly that I was just off today.

Patch: Did you feel any pressure? Or nerves? Anything specific to that caused you to feel that way? 

Ruffino: I wasn’t nervous at all and didn’t feel any pressure to go out there and shoot really low. I put pressure on myself cause I want to do well, but I didn’t feel any pressure from anything else.

I don’t know. The first couple holes I just couldn’t find a rhythm. I had to try and battle my way through the whole round to try and find it. And I really couldn’t find it. The last couple of rounds I’ve been making a lot of birdies and have had one to zero bogies per round (Note — He finished with two birdies and five bogies on day one). Today it just wasn’t there. I didn’t execute.

Patch: After playing the course today, any holes that stood out to you as particularly challenging?

Ruffino: Every hole is pretty fair. The greens are rolling really good. The course is in good shape. If you hit it where you’re supposed to hit it, then you can birdie every hole out there. 

Patch: You’re here as an individual, and a lot of players come in as a team. Does that put you at a disadvantage at all? Not having a group of players to go over the course with and talk through different things.

Ruffino: Not really a disadvantage, (but) it’s disappointing. I’d love to be here with my team, but I’m trying to do my best to represent my school and trying to win a state title for our school. It’s not a disadvantage, but I would love to have my teammates here with me. Maybe next year.

The tournament continues at 8 a.m. Saturday. The start time was moved back from 9 a.m. after officials saw there is a potential for rain Saturday.