With the BIIF golf season just around the corner, Waiakea High senior golfer Ryder Ng signed a letter of intent to golf for Linfield University on Tuesday.
Ng helped lead the Warriors the their 2023 HHSAA state title victory, and placed third overall as an individual. Waiakea’s boys golf team went on to place No. 5 in the nation at the PGA’s high school invitational last July.
Ng was also twice selected to represent Team Hawaii at the Eddie Hogan Cup, a national-level youth golf tournament in Oregon.
Linfield is a NCAA Division III university in McMinnville, Ore. — in the Willamette Valley region, roughly 40 miles southwest of Portland.
The Wildcats compete in the Northwest Conference against schools such as Pacific, George Fox, Lewis &Clark, Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound — all of which are known for having many students and athletes from the Big Island and state of Hawai‘i.
Linfield’s men’s golf team placed third among a field of nine teams at last year’s NWC Championship.
Ng is the third member of Waiakea 2023 state champion squad (coached by Alika Toledo) to ink a college deal and second this school year.
His former teammate, Dysen Park, currently golfs for UH-Hilo — and Ng’s classmate, Noah Otani, anounced in November his intent to join Park as a Vulcan.
The BIIF golf season is rapidly approaching, with the first outing slated for March 6 at Waikoloa Village GC.
Ng and Otani will look to lead the Warriors to another BIIF team championship before beginning their college golf careers.