Monthly Archives: June 2020

The annual 36-hole Utah Junior PGA Championship, played at Soldier Hollow Golf Course in Midway June 15-16, is usually a qualifier to the national Boys Junior PGA Championship and Girls Junior PGA Championship, but with the 2020 event cancelled, the Utah Section PGA adjusted the qualifier to one exemption into the 2020 Utah Open for the Boys 16-18 division and one exemption into the Utah Women’s Open for the Girls 16-18 division.

Simon Kwon took command in the final round with a (-4) 68 round on a morning that saw 30-40 mph wind gusts. His four-under round was the low of the day, four-strokes better than first-round leader Tyson Shelley’s even-par round.

Kwon finished the event (-7) 69-68 for a two-stroke victory over Shelley to earn an exemption into the Utah Open played in August at Riverside Country Club in Provo.

“It’s going to be awesome to be able to play there and compete,” Kwon said of his Utah Open entry. “This will be my first time, it was definitely a goal to qualify for some tournaments like this.

“I just didn’t really put myself in bad spots today,” he said of his final round. “I really didn’t have to worry too much about making a putt for par, I just made sure I was on the green and didn’t leave myself more than a tap-in for par.”

Kwon will be a senior in high school next year and with the majority of national junior events cancelled in 2020, he has his sight set on the Utah Open and Utah State Amateur.

Shelley finished runner up with rounds of (-5) 67-72 and Boston Bracken finished third at (-3) 68-73.

Lila Galea’i shot a (-1) 71 in the first round to take the early lead and she never gave it up with a final-round (-2) 70 – which earned her an exemption into the 2020 Utah Women’s Open at Thanksgiving Point in August.

Her three-under total provided a five-stroke victory over second-place finishers Berlin Long and Sunbin Seo, who both shot matching 75-71 scores of two-over.

“Feels good to get an exemption in the Utah Women’s Open,” Galea’i said. “Soldier Hollow is always a tough course to play but the way I played today I think it was good. I’m excited to have an exemption and to play.”

Galea’i considers Thanksgiving Point her home course and is feeling comfortable going into the Utah Women’s Open.

“It definitely gives me home course advantage playing at Thanksgiving Point. I know the course like the back of my hand. I just need to make sure I play the best that I can and I think I’ll be good.”

In the Girls 13-15 division there was a three-way tie after round one between Aadyn Long, Katelin Bingham and Patiola Uluave, all coming in at 81.

In the final round, it was Long who stole the show with a final round 77, finishing at 14-over for the event and a five-stroke victory.

Bingham finished second while Uluave took third place.

Zak Richins of the Boys 13-15 division held the first-round lead at even par and never looked back, winning the event with a final round (-1) 71, finishing three strokes ahead of Dustin Miller and Gavin Dosch at two-over.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s Utah Junior PGA Championship and a big thank you to Soldier Hollow Head Professional Chris Newson and his staff for hosting our championship yet again.

Click Here for Full Results.

Click Here for Tournament Photos.

This year will be remembered for more reasons than one, the Utah Section PGA hopes that one of those reasons was the opportunity to receive some closure on the 2020 high school golf season as classifications 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A were able to compete in the Spring Individual Championship at Rose Park Golf Course on June 4^th.

Annabelle Millard of Dixie High School, who will graduate in 2022, stole the show for the day and for the 4A classification with a round of (-4) 70, the low round of the event.

“Everything really fell in place, my mental game was really strong,” Millard said about her round.

“I was really excited when I found out about this event. I just feel like it gave a little bit of closure, especially to seniors, who wouldn’t have had state otherwise.”

Millard had six birdies on the day and had a three-hole stretch of birdies on holes seven, eight and nine.

As for the future, Millard added, “I definitely want to play college golf wherever I can and hopefully continue to win state tournaments.”

Ellie DeMond of 3A Morgan High School picked the perfect moment to shoot her career-low round.

The Morgan freshman shot a (+1) 75 to win the 3A Girls Individual Championship. Richfield High School’s Ellie Hair finished runner-up with a (+3) 77.

“My chipping helped me a lot today,” DeMond said.

The second-lowest score on the day came from Rowland Hall freshman Arden Louchheim who shot a (-1) 73 to win the 2A Individual Championship.

“I kept my drives generally in play… it was nice to have shorter wedges in,” Lochheim said.

“Golf has been one of my only constants throughout all of this because we’ve been able to play socially distanced. It was great to get out and play. I was hoping to win state with my team, but it was definitely cool to win individualy.

“I wanted to thank the Utah PGA for putting on this awesome tournament, Rowland Hall and my coach Clay Ogden.”

Rich High School junior McKina Stacey won the 1A Girls Individual Championship with a (+21) 95, two strokes better than her sophomore teammate Natalee Parry, who finished runner-up.

“My main goal was just to relax and focus on my game, rather than other people, and just play my game.

“I was so pumped,” Stacey said of her reaction when she learned of the event. “I was a little out of practice, but I was so excited.”

Rounding out the event was the Boys 1A Individual Championship, won by Manila High School junior Brody Schofield, who shot (+4) 76.

Schofield decided he wanted to be a golfer after watching the 2015 Masters tournament. The nearest golf course is an hour drive from his home.

“I was so pumped,” Schofield said about learning of the event. “The reason everyone wants this is because we love competition. When you can compete, it gives you something to work for.

“The closest course to me is an hour away in Green River, Wyoming. I hit in a cow pasture quite a bit, that’s where I really get a lot of my practice done and then in my backyard chipping and putting.”

The Utah Section is in a fortunate position to be able to provide an individual championship to the spring classifications in a year that isn’t quite going as planned.

For full results CLICK HERE

For photos of the event CLICK HERE

With Covid precautions in place, the 2020 Utah Section PGA Spring Pro-Pro looked a little different and was held a little later in the year as usual, but the results and the comradery were just as good.

There was a tie at the top of the leaderboard when all was said and done. Team Mark Owen/Chris Moody and Team Dustin Volk/Pete Stone finished with a (-8) 64 at Ogden Golf & Country Club.

With six birdies and an eagle on the par-five 12^th hole, Owen and Moody had a blemish-free card and through a scorecard playoff will take the 2^nd seed going into the season-long Utah PGA Four-Ball Championship.

Defending Champions Chris Gresh and Dustin Pimm will take the 1^st seed, with the first and second rounds being played on June 2^nd.

Volk and Stone had only one blemish on the card, but with an eagle on the par-five sixth hole and seven birdies, they were able to reach eight-under and will go into the Four-Ball Championship as the third seed.

“We had a great turnout as always, Charley Carlson is a great sponsor, he always is, he worked with us through all the changes,” Utah PGA Executive Director Devin Dehlin said. “We want to thank Craig Sarlo, Bob Wallace, everyone at Ogden country club, along with their membership for allowing us to use their course.

“It was awesome, it was great from my standpoint and the Section staff, to see many of our members because we haven’t seen them in a while.”

Traditionally the Spring Pro-Pro is held alongside the Spring Meeting, but to avoid large gatherings the meeting was cancelled.

The Four-Ball Championship bracket is set and the tournament is underway. The first two rounds will be held at Ogden Golf & Country Club, while the remaining rounds will be scheduled by each individual match until the championship match.

For Spring Pro-Pro results CLICK HERE.

For Four-Ball Championship bracket CLICK HERE.