Winning never gets old.
Winning at golf, especially when you play the best you’re capable of, doesn’t get old, either, for Brian Humphreys.
“Every win is satisfying,” he said.
That’s exactly why Humphreys, a 2016 Camas High School graduate and former Class 4A Washington high school state champion, describes his spring as the best golf he’s played in recent years that led to a historic freshman season at Boise State University.
And he hopes it continues with his summer-filled golf schedule that includes the Oregon Amateur, Washington State Amateur and the Sahalee Players’ Championship.
But not before a strong showing at this weekend’s Royal Oaks Invitational.
Humphreys is part of a loaded field at the annual event, which teed off Friday at Royal Oaks Country Club. It features some of the area’s top local and regional amateur golfers.
No doubt, Humphreys is in that category.
He fired back-to-back 36s for an even-par 72. Reigning champion Spencer Tibbits, fresh off his third 3A high school state championship last month for Fort Vancouver, also shot a 72 as part of the second-to-last foursome with Humphryes, Ridgefield graduate Brett Johnson (Western Washington) and Loyola Marymount’s Riley Elmes. Three others, including Skyview graduate Kevin Beavers, are at 1-under 71.
Opening-round leaders are David Ganz and Robbie Ziegler, who each shot 2-under 70s Friday.
For Humphreys, the past two months have been accolade-filled as a first-year college player.
But first came the adjustments. Going to college, new coaches, new courses and conditions. Adjustments took time, but soon after, the victories came.
He won three tournaments as a freshman, but none bigger than becoming the first freshman in conference history to win the Mountain West Conference title in April. He shot under-par all three days in the 54-hole tournament to earn a spot at the NCAA Regionals at Stanford, and followed it up by earning the conference’s freshman of the year in men’s golf.
“It was pretty amazing,” he said of earning medalist honors at the MWC Championships. “I got off to the best start I could (birdie, eagle on the first two holes). … I was looking at it as an experience to learn and grow.”
Back on May 9 at a U.S. Open local qualifier, he fired a 2-under-par 70 in Bend, Ore., to advance to the sectional qualifier, held earlier this week at the Tacoma Country and Golf Club. There, he shot a 12-over on 36 holes, and that — like the NCAA Regionals — was Humphreys’ first experience.
Similar to his NCAA experience, he already is looking at the upside.
“If I put myself in that same position again next year,” he said, “I feel like I’d do a lot better.”
First played in 1957, Royal Oaks past champions include Peter Jacobsen, Dave Glenz, Don Kreiger, Dick Yost and Dick Iverson.
