The Cole Rueck Story
Prior to his third collegiate tournament, Cole Rueck was ecstatic.
Rueck, who had been a member of the Boise State men’s golf team for just over two months, was heading back to his hometown, Corvallis, Ore., for the Oregon State Invitational. Rueck had played the Trysting Tree Golf Course hundreds of times growing up and was coming off stellar play in his opening two tournaments. All signs pointed to a breakout weekend.
Instead, the opposite occurred. The freshman shot a +26 over three rounds, finishing 82nd out of 84 golfers.
“To this day, I still joke that Cole beat two humans that day and only one of them had a pulse,” said Boise State men’s golf coach David Trainor.
Trainor laughs now, but back then, he was in a predicament. He was in his first season at the helm of the program, and he needed to decide on a player to complete the team’s travel roster for the TPC Colorado Invitational the following weekend. He decided to hold a “qualifying round” at the team’s next practice.
“I told the guys, ‘I’m picking, but you’re playing,’” Trainor said. “I wanted to see how they would handle the competition.”
Rueck was already at a slight disadvantage with the impromptu challenge, as he would have to leave the practice early to make it back for class. Unable to complete a full round, he would have less time to make an impression on his coach.
The freshman got off to a less than ideal start. Rueck fat-toed his first shot from the tee box, his ball barely reaching the fairway.
Rueck recovered, shooting 3-under par while completing only 14 holes. He left practice for class, unsure of who would make the travel roster.
That night, Trainor shot Rueck a text. ‘If I pick you, are you ready to go?’ Rueck responded instantly. ‘Yes.’
“There was no, ‘I think so,’ or ‘whatever you need.’ It was just a yes,” Trainor said. “I sent the lineup in the group chat and knew I’d get some phone calls. But what I saw was a freshman, coming off an awful weekend at his home course and shanking his first tee shot. He shook that off, and in 14 holes shot three under. To me, nothing could phase him. He was going to be just fine.”
No one knew it at the time, but the inclusion of Rueck on that weekend’s travel roster to Boulder, Colo. would launch a swell of confidence that would propel him to be one of, if not the greatest golfer in program history.
Earlier this month, Rueck earned a 2026 PGA Tour exemption. Shortly thereafter, he made the difficult decision to forgo the remainder of his senior season to focus his entire attention on his professional career.
Though his college career came to an end, the impact he’s had, not only on the program, but Boise State, is immense.
“He's been the face of this program basically his entire career,” Trainor said. “You look at what he's accomplished, and it’s certainly impressive. Even more impressive is that he’s represented this program with the utmost class and integrity. If somebody doesn't like Cole Rueck, I'd like to meet them and ask them why. He’s one of the easiest guys to root for because of his character.”
Finding His Confidence
Growing up, Rueck always had a golf club in his hand. His dad, Scott, who is the head women’s basketball coach at Oregon State, bought him little plastic clubs when he was just two years old. He would spend hours hitting whiffle balls in the backyard, and as he got older, he tagged along on the golf cart whenever his dad would play.
Rueck started playing in local tournaments when he was seven years old. By high school, he had made a name for himself. A graduate of Corvallis High School, Rueck earned medalist honors in each of his first four tournaments as a junior. He kept improving, eventually competing at the U.S. Open Qualifier, advancing to the quarterfinal match of the 2021 PNGA Junior Boys’ Amateur Championship, and reaching the round of 16 in the Men’s Amateur Championship. Rueck was clearly gifted at the game.
Impressing collegiate coaches was a challenge however. Smaller in stature, Rueck wasn’t the biggest kid physically, and his scores, though impressive, weren’t earth-shattering. However, he was improving at such a fast pace, and he knew he could compete competitively at the next level.
“I wanted somewhere that I could get a lot of competitive reps, where I had a chance to get in the lineup and just play tournaments,” Rueck said. “That’s all I wanted to do. I sent out a ton of emails to different schools and had a handful who responded. I didn’t really have a dream school in the recruitment process. I just wanted to find the best fit. Boise State felt like that. I visited a couple other schools on that trip, and I knew by the time I got home, that Boise State was where I wanted to be.”
Rueck’s freshman season with the Blue and Orange coincided with Trainor’s first year at the helm of the program. After his up-and-down start in the fall, the team had its typical winter break before picking back up before the spring season. Rueck, who was forced inside due to the winter weather, began taking advantage of all the golf gadgets in the indoor facility.
“I had never really been someone who was really technical with my swing,” Rueck said. “I mostly would go to the range and hit balls, and if it felt good, then I would call it good. If it didn't, then I would hit until it felt good. In our golf facility, I had access to all these numbers.”
For example, Rueck used the personalized data and found that his club path was five-to-eight degrees inside to out, an extremely high number. Even more specifically, he realized that his takeaway (the initial movement of the golf club as it moves away from the ball) varied way too much. To fix the issue, he utilized alignment sticks every day for his freshman season, intently focusing on straightening his takeaway and backswing.
“The scores didn’t change much, but my ball striking did,” Rueck said. “I was able to build from there. I had a really good summer after my freshman year where everything came together. That spring is where I really learned a lot about my swing and was able to kind of own it from there.”
From Trainor’s perspective, Rueck’s improvement had less to do with the technical side, and more to do with his confidence. Though he does recall finetuning techniques, such as adjusting his ball position off the tee box to help contain the flight path, Rueck took his biggest leap when he first believed in himself.
“As a freshman, he came in and was pretty tiny,” Trainor said. “It looked to me like early on he was trying to keep distance with the guys he was playing with. That wasn’t his game, so I told him to do his own thing. He didn’t need to worry about the upperclassmen. He didn’t need to worry about anything. He just needed to play his game.”
The real confidence boost came during his sophomore season at the Genesis Collegiate Showcase at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif. The team had earned a spot in the invitational that fall, and Rueck’s performance as the highest ranked individual garnered him a spot.
There, Rueck carded an even-par 71, setting up a playoff with Washington’s Petr Hruby. Both players shot par on hole 10, setting up Rueck for a seven-foot putt for birdie on the 11th hole to claim the victory. The win earned Rueck an exemption to the 2024 Scottish Open.
“He goes down to Genesis and shoots even par around Riviera, sight unseen. Then when gets in a playoff, he goes out and birdies to win it,” Trainor said. “It was then and there that I knew he was special. More importantly, that’s when he knew he was special. That’s when he realized he could do this. And that’s when his career took off.”
Taking Off
The Genesis event kicked off a massive boost of confidence for the remainder of the season. His season average of 71.61 stands as the ninth-lowest in program history for a single season, and he had 18 rounds at par or better, also ninth in a single season. He earned co-medalist honors at the Battle for Idaho and responded from a 1-over 72 in the first round of the Mountain West Championship to come back and win Boise State’s first individual conference championship since Brian Humphreys in 2017.
He earned a spot at the NCAA Stanford Regional, where he finished in the top 30. Rueck concluded his sophomore season with three individual event victories.
He then turned his attention to the Scottish Open, an experience he earned via his performance in the Genesis. With Coach Trainor watching, and his dad as his caddy, he got to interact with the likes of Nico Echavarria, Michael Gotterup, Jordan Spieth and Colin Morikawa.
Rueck was guaranteed two rounds at the high-profile event, and anything beyond that would require him to make the cut. Competing on a vastly different course than what he was used to stateside, Rueck managed a 4-over 74. He struggled with harsh conditions on the second day, managing a 7-over 77.
Though he didn’t fare as well as he would have liked, being around the professional game inspired him. He was determined to be a professional golfer someday.
“I always knew I was going to try to play professional golf, but it wasn’t until the Scottish Open that I really believed,” Rueck said. “That gave me a ton of belief. It was a great experience of just playing in that event, even when my game was not ready for it. I got done playing and got to see what the best were like. Even though I finished in last place, I actually left encouraged. I knew I could hit those shots to compete. I knew I wasn’t ready then, but that I would get better over those next few years. From that point on, I knew I could do it.”
As a junior, he recorded eight top-25 finishes, including six in the top 10. He won the Genesis Collegiate Showcase for the second-straight year, carding a 3-under 69. He earned invitations to the Barracuda Championship, a PGA Tour and European Tour Event, all of which he participated in over the summer. He posted a career-best 6-under 66 at the Loyola Intercollegiate and shot his best score at the MW Championship, carding rounds of 68-68-70 for a total score of 10-under 206.
This season, Rueck had captured a pair of individual championships and six top 10 finishes in the Broncos’ nine team events.
As his final spring season turned to a close, Rueck and teammate Gavyn Knight decided to travel to Soboba Springs, Calif. to compete at one of the five sites of the 2026 PGA Tour Qualifying School. The stakes? The top eight finishers at each site would earn full membership for the 2026 PGA Tour Americas season.
This was Rueck’s chance to become a professional golfer.
“This was always my goal, so I was nervous for sure,” Rueck said. “I hadn’t played great at my two previous tournaments so it kind of freed me up to relax. I was just going to go out there, give it my best and see what happens. I found some really great swing feels and putting feels that I was able to lean on. I shot two under on the first round. I got off to a pretty poor start in the second round but had a great back nine. I started to feel pretty good about my game. Things started to click.”
Knight finished first on the final day, heading to his hotel room to follow the remainder of the scores. He checked the leaderboard consistently, providing updates to the team back home. As Rueck entered the homestretch, Knight headed down to the final hole to watch.
“I birded the 17th hole. The course was playing pretty tough so I figured I just needed a par on 18 and I would be safe. I hadn’t checked the leaderboard all day, though, so I didn’t know exactly where I stood. I parred 18 and I saw my teammate, Gavyn Knight, standing there. I looked at him and asked, ‘Am I good?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, you’re looking really good.’ At that point, I was excited, but it didn’t sink in for me.
“Then everything started.”
It’s Pro Time
Rueck’s score of a 275 (-13) earned a tie for second place, immediately vaulting him into full membership of the 2026 PGA Tours Americas season. Consisting of 15 events, the schedule began on April 16 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rueck walked off the course on April 3.
By qualifying for the event, Rueck earned exemptions for the first 10 events of the 15-event season schedule. If he plays well enough in those 10, he can earn a spot in the final five. At the end of the season, the top 10 finishers of the entire season move up to the Korn Ferry, one league shy of the PGA Tour.
Prior to the event, Rueck and Knight had nonchalantly had conversations about what to do if either of them had qualified. Once Rueck did, he had two options:
Option 1.) Begin competing professionally immediately, forgoing his final eligibility at Boise State.
Option 2.) Finish his season with the Broncos before going pro, missing the first two events of PGA Tours Americas season.
“As soon as I realized I qualified, I knew I had to make a decision immediately,” Rueck said. “It was a really hard choice, but at the same time, it was a no-brainer. I wish I could have it both ways, but professional golf has been my dream my whole life. Now that I actually have that opportunity, I needed to take full advantage of it. I needed to play those first two events to try and get the most points I can so I can advance further.”
After further consultation with his family and fiancé, Rueck officially made the decision to turn pro. He called Coach Trainor that night with the news.
Wishing you all the best in your pro career!
— Boise State MGolf (@BroncoSportsMGF) April 13, 2026
- Mountain West individual champion
- 2x All-Mountain West
- 8 tournament titles
- 17 top 10s (2nd most in program history)
- Multi-time PGA Tour participant#WhatsNext | #BleedBlue pic.twitter.com/zYrIJYDo1e
“That Friday night he sent me a text asking if I had time for a chat,” Trainor said. “He told me he felt like he needed to chase this opportunity now as opposed to waiting a month. No part of me was going to try to convince him to stay. I saw his dream playing out instantly.”
However, the team had already arranged travel for Rueck and Knight to compete with the team at the final team event of the season, the UC Santa Barbara Intercollegiate. There, he told the team over dinner at Chipotle.
“Everyone was so supportive,” Rueck said. “There were no hard feelings, which didn't surprise me at all."
In his final event donning the Blue and Orange, the senior-now-professional-golfer fired a 211 (-5), capping the tournament with a two-way tie for second place. It was the seventh top-10 finish of his senior campaign and the 17th of his career. For his work on the links, Rueck was named the Mountain West Golfer of the Week, becoming the second Bronco to receive the distinction multiple times in the same season.
Unfortunately, Rueck had no time for reflection, immediately having to pack up and head to Brazil for his first professional event. He finished 1-over on his first round and 6-under his next to make the cut. He finished 8-under in a tie for 55th place. He failed to make the cut in his second event in Argentina.
“I was able to have so many cool golf experiences that allowed me to take my game to the next level. Hardly any college golfers get to say they played in two PGA Tour events and Boise State gave me that opportunity. There were golfers before me here like Graham DeLaet and Troy Merritt who went to Boise State and had a ton of success on the PGA Tour. Graham actually texted me last week wishing me the best. Feeling the support has been awesome and builds confidence. The main thing is the culture and the brand that Boise State has built. It’s a place that generates a lot of success and I knew it was a place I could have a lot of success and that I would really enjoy.”Cole Rueck,
“After every event I ask all my kids, ‘What did you learn?’” Trainer said. “After this stretch down in South America I texted him, ‘What did you learn?’”
Rueck responded, “I confirmed that I’m good enough and that this is what I need to be doing. I just have to tighten some things up all around.”
“That’s all I needed to hear,” Trainor said. “He’s going to be just fine.”
As Trainor shifts his attention to the remainder of his team, he reflects on Rueck’s career as a Bronco.
“I look forward to following his career and seeing what he's going to do because I'm excited for him. He's just a great person. I’m going to steal this line from Dan Potter. He told me years ago he always recruited kids he wanted to root for. Cole is a kid you want to root for. As good of a player he is, he's a better person.”