Ridgeview High’s boys golf team has a new star with a familiar last name.

Freshman Isaac Buerger has finished first individually at two tournaments, most recently the rain-shortened Lava Bear Invitational on April 20 at Crosswater Club in Sunriver, where he shot 34 on the front nine. Isaac, son of Ridgeview coach Ron Buerger, already made a name for himself before starting high school, winning tournaments, including the Central Oregon Junior Golf Association Cup for 14- to15-year-olds, in 2015.

“I feel like I could be doing better,” Isaac said of his first high school season. “I’ve had a few rough tournaments and a few good tournaments. I’m hoping I can improve and do better toward the end.”

Isaac hit his first double-eagle as an 11-year-old in 2013 at the ninth hole of Eagle Crest Resort’s Ridge Course, which happens to be the Ravens’ home. His first hole-in-one came at the sixth hole at the Ridge Course two years earlier.

Isaac has a goal of winning the Class 5A Special District 2 championship four years in a row and wants to contend for the state title every year. He could have an advantage this year since the Ridge Course will play host to the May 6-7 district tournament.

Ron Buerger, who is also Eagle Crest’s golf director and a longtime PGA of America professional, said senior Johnny Spinelli, the Ravens’ No. 2 player, gives Ridgeview its other best chance to reach state.

He is hopeful that Isaac and Spinelli can help carry the Ravens to one of five district spots at state. That would take an improvement over Ridgeview’s 2015 ninth-place, district finish.

“Every year we try to get the team there,” said Ron Buerger, who last guided Ridgeview to state in 2014, when it was a Class 4A school. “If we can’t get the team there, we try to get as many individuals as we can.”

Spinelli has a goal of a top-10 finish at the state tournament, he said. He has played for Ridgeview each of the four years since the school started.

“We’re playing a lot better than we did my freshman and junior years,” Spinelli said. “With the addition of Isaac, we’re shooting a lot lower scores.”

The team has yet to reach its peak, Ron Buerger said. Ridgeview finished third in the seven-team Crosswater tournament, with a score of 167, 14 shots behind victorious Summit. Ridgeview was scheduled to play in the Crook County Invitational on April 25, after the Spokesman’s print deadline.

“We’ve got quite a bit of room for improvement,” Rob Buerger said. “Some of our big guns are starting to play better, and are getting their legs under them.”

Golf’s exposure

Improving depth is challenging for all but those schools in upper-class areas with several country clubs to draw players from. That’s largely because of the impact the Great Recession had on golf, which can be expensive for kids to play, Ron Buerger said.

“The kids that would have been at the ages where you go to junior camps are now high school age,” the coach said. “And a lot of the kids didn’t do that.”

That makes Spinelli, who gave up baseball to play golf, more impressive.

“He was one that didn’t have a lot of youth development,” Ron Buerger said. “He came into high school looking for a recreational activity. He put in the time and was able to get better at a rate faster than most.”

Also on the team is junior Luke Buerger. The Ravens’ No. 3 player is the coach’s son and Isaac’s brother.

The Buerger brothers followed their father into playing golf, but Isaac, who started playing at a young age, said he is the most passionate about it.

Isaac has longer-term goals of playing at an NCAA Division I college and then professionally. For now, he wants to play well for his father and his grandfather, Daryl Buerger, who died last fall.

“He always said he wanted to watch me play, and I know he still is,” Isaac said of his grandfather.

— Reporter: 541-548-2186, gfolsom@redmondspokesman.com