Eagan's Ryan Peterson to Prepare for Professional Golf Career

Ryan Peterson has a few items on his to-do list for the next few weeks.

Golf is not on the list.

The Eagan golfer, who expects to graduate from Colorado State in December, plans to put the clubs away for a while. But one he begins practice, it will be with one goal in mind: to get prepared for a professional career.

Peterson’s amateur career didn’t end as he had hoped. He ended up losing to Ben Geyer of Arbuckle, CA 3 and 2 in the round of 64 at the U.S. Amateur Championship Thursday morning at the Erin Hills Golf Course in Erin, Wisc.

“I just didn’t play well at all, I didn’t play well enough to win,” Peterson said.  “I had a couple of bad drives; I didn’t make anything on the putting green. I had some moments of brilliance but not enough to win. But Ben played well. He deserved to win."

Geyer started with a birdie on the par-5, 563-yard first hole to take a 1-up lead. Peterson got the match to all-square when Geyer bogeyed the 236-yard, par-3 6th hole. The beginning of the end for Peterson happened with a double-bogey six on No. 10. Peterson got a bogey on No. 12 and the match ended with another bogey on No. 16.

Despite his problems on the back nine, Peterson said he enjoyed the experience.

“This was the first time I made it to match play,” Peterson said. “The scene here with all the players and all the spectators was really cool. This was a nice wrapup to a good amateur career.”

Peterson said he plans to compete on the Dakotas pro tour next year with an eye on eventually qualifying for the Canadian Tour. But before that, Peterson has some catching up to do in the classroom. He’s already missed a week of school at Colorado State. Golf will take a back seat for a while.

“I’m going to take it easy,” said Peterson, referring to his golf. “I don’t have another tournament for awhile. I just got done playing in Iowa and in Canada.”

Peterson said the key to his future in professional goal will depend on his improvement as a putter.

“I was real good from tee to green, other than a couple of wayward drives,” Peterson said. “I just need a better stroke. I tend to get a little quick or a little long. I just need to tweak few things.”