Ty Gingerich watching his eagle attempt at the par-5 9th
(Will Brown/St. Augustine Record photo)

Ty Gingerich’s domination of the St. Johns Golf Course began with his attempt to qualify for the Crooked Stick Collegiate Invitational.

Once he didn’t qualify for the 36-hole collegiate tournament in Indianapolis, the University of Cincinnati freshman made the nine-hour journey to the Ancient City for the St. Augustine Amateur.

Despite arriving in town shortly before 3 a.m., getting less than four hours of sleep and being at the No. 10 tee at the St. Johns Golf for his first shot a 9:18 Friday morning, the 19-year-old shot a tournament-record 62.

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“I birdied (Nos.) 10 and 11,” Gingerich said. “I felt like I had put up some good momentum and confidence and tried to keep going.”

Gingerich made a four-foot birdie at No. 9 to break a tournament record set by U Minn Woon during the first round of the 2018 St. Augustine Amateur.

He leads Canadian Sudarshan Yellamaraju (4-under) by four strokes. Ponte Vedra Beach resident Michael Smith and Nocatee resident (and PGA Tour caddie) Paul Tesori are tied for third at 3-under.

Gingerich carded a bogey-free round on his first time playing the course. His tournament-record was four shots better than the best competitive round of his life.

He played 36 holes on Thursday, caught a flight at 5:45, landed at Dulles International, left Washington D.C. for Orlando at 10:30, landed in the City Beautiful at 12:30 a.m. Friday and drove to St. Augustine.

“I just tried to go play and do the best I could,” Gingerich said. “I was kind of bummed I didn’t qualify for the college tournament on Monday (and) Tuesday. I wanted to come down here and play well.”

Gingerich birdied Nos. 1, 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, 14 and 17 to take command of the tournament. He leads a field of 73 golfers that are a combination of mid-amateurs, like Tesori and Smith, high school golfers and collegiate golfers.

The 16th St. Augustine Amateur featured Canadians, a Russian (Egor Zubov, 7-over), a Scotsman (Gary McDonald, 2-over) as well as a French teenager (Theodore Reitter, 1-under). But, the day belonged to Gingerich.

Afterward, he had no idea he was in line to shoot a 62. He knew he had a chance for 8-under, but forgot par was 70 instead of 72.

″It set up nicely,” Gingerich said about the St. Johns Golf Course. “It gave me a lot of wedges and short iron shots. I feel that’s a strength of my game, iron play. I felt like I drove the ball well and I set myself up in good shots out of the fairway to have good iron shots to help me in that regard.”