Former Bellarmine Prep standout, now at UW, is one of the nation’s top-ranked golfers
RJ Manke is right at home.
He’s back walking the familiar fairways of the Pacific Northwest.
He’s back playing in Washington for the first time in his college career, after spending his first four seasons golfing down the coast at Pepperdine.
And he’s found a home with the Huskies, and during the past several months, ascended to the top of the NCAA Division I men’s ranks after joining the program as a graduate student.
It feels like home, said Manke — who is a former Bellarmine Prep standout and two-time Washington State Amateur champion — and it’s good to be back.
“It’s the same place that I always knew,” he said. “But, it’s a new viewpoint, a new position to experience it all.”
Manke, who grew up in Lakewood, has been building to this point since he started playing in local tournaments as a 5-year-old. He enjoyed playing all sports growing up, he said, but golf in particular.
“It was just hanging out with my friends, passing the time and having fun outdoors,” Manke said. “It’s the perfect thing to do as a kid if you have the opportunity.”
He golfed at the varsity level each of his four high school seasons in Tacoma, reached state each of his final three from 2015-17 and posted three top-10 finishes.
He also helped pace Bellarmine Prep to three consecutive Class 4A team titles during that stretch alongside former individual champion Joe Highsmith.
“I think that definitely put me into a team winning mindset when I went on to Pepperdine, and here at UW,” Manke said. “I’ve never been on a team where our goal was to finish top 50 percent or finish top five. It was always to show up to a tournament and win.
“That’s what we expected ourselves to do at Pepperdine, and that’s what we’re expecting at UW, so I think that mindset for me was built on the Bellarmine team.”
Manke had offers to remain in the Pacific Northwest — from Gonzaga, Oregon State and Seattle U — but knew to continue his pursuit of someday golfing professionally, he needed opportunities to play throughout the year, which the warmer climate in Southern California provided.
“I think it was an awesome four years,” he said. “I met great people that I’ll be close friends with the rest of my life, and got a great education and got to play awesome courses in good weather year-round and great tournaments.”
He made strides each season and earned his first two wins as a sophomore. He credits his older teammates, including some who have gone on to golf professionally, and what he learned playing alongside them, as key reasons he kept improving.
Manke’s first collegiate medal was at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational, a fall tournament which is hosted by Cal, in 2018. The next spring, he followed up with an individual title at the West Coast Conference championships. By the time he wrapped up his senior season in 2021, he was an All-American honorable mention selection by Golfweek.
He was also part of the Pepperdine team last spring — along with Highsmith, who is now a senior there — that brought the school its first national golf title in more than two decades.
“It’s something that Pepperdine program is going to remember forever,” he said. “We had been talking about the 1997 national championship that we won at Pepperdine my four years there, and now this is that legacy that will be able to go on.
“ … To be able to be a part of that, and see how that year went on and off the course with the guys, it was pretty cool how it culminated to being the winners at the end of the year.”
After Manke completed his four-year degree in business administration at Pepperdine, he looked closer to home to finish his college career.
“Once that extra COVID year came up, I knew I wanted to take it at UW,” he said. “This was always my dream school as a kid. My whole family has gone here.”
UW was a natural fit, giving Manke both the chance to spend his final season of eligibility back in the Puget Sound region, and the opportunity to pursue a master’s in real estate.
“He really values education,” Huskies coach Alan Murray said. “He wanted to be able to get a master’s, and he wanted to go somewhere where it was a high-level golf program. Fortunately, I feel like we kind of ticked both of those boxes.”
Manke’s rise with this UW program has been impressive. With the Huskies gearing up for the bulk of their spring season, he is considered one of the top college golfers in the NCAA, ranking as high as the No. 2 player nationally by Golfweek. He was also named to the Ben Hogan Award watch list earlier this month.
In seven tournaments since joining UW’s program ahead of the fall season, Manke has six top-three finishes, including wins in back-to-back weeks at Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish Classic and the Oregon State Invitational in October.
He was also UW’s top individual finisher in six of the seven contests, and has embraced a leadership role with the Huskies as one of the more experienced golfers in the group.
“RJ has really come in here with the enthusiasm of a freshman — but he has all the know-how and polish and grace, and everything else that you would expect a grad student to have,” Murray said. “He’s been absolutely first class.”
The Huskies enter the spring as a top-25 team, and were ranked at No. 13 in the Bushnell/Golfweek Division I Coaches’ Poll released last week.
“We’re excited to see where we can go, and what we can do with this group the rest of the year,” Murray said.
“We’ve had some good finishes and good fields,” Manke said. “We have some tournaments coming up that I’m confident we can perform well at and win.”
With the hope that, when nationals roll around in late May, the Huskies will be in the mix.
“That’s the ultimate goal for us,” he said.
As an individual, Manke hopes to continue to build toward a future on the PGA Tour like several Pierce County golfers before him — Puyallup’s Ryan Moore, University Place’s Andrew Putnam and Gig Harbor’s Kyle Stanley are all currently Tour golfers — as he plays out his final college season.
He currently sits at sixth in the PGA Tour University rankings, a program which grants the top collegiate five golfers nationally membership to the Korn Ferry Tour at the end of the spring season.
“Individually, that PGA Tour University Ranking is the hottest thing now in college golf,” he said. “It’s awesome. It’s encouraging kids to stay in school, and it’s a great leaderboard to strive for.
“My goal is to get inside that top five, and get some Korn Ferry status and be able to roll right after nationals into some Korn Ferry events.”
As the spring season unfolds, Manke will look to add to his string of strong finishes, but also enjoy these final few months golfing alongside his Huskies teammates.
“Just being around other good players was the biggest key for me in college at Pepperdine and UW, and it’s going to be key for me as I turn professional and give it a run at the PGA Tour,” he said.
Murray believes there is much more to come as Manke continues his career beyond college.
“He can play this game at the highest level, I believe,” Murray said. “I believe that’s something he’s passionate about doing, so I expect we’ll probably be watching him play on TV for many years to come.
“But, he’s well-rounded, he’s gifted, whatever he chooses to do he’ll be really successful. Just when you look at the skills and gifts he has, and how he treats people, how he prepares for stuff, he really operates on a very, very high level.”
This story was originally published March 7, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Former Bellarmine Prep standout, now at UW, is one of the nation’s top-ranked golfers."
