The morning wave at the 99th playing of the Larry H. Miller Utah Open belonged to BYU junior and this year’s Utah State Amateur runner-up Simon Kwon, who fired an 8-under 64 at Riverside Country Club — two shots clear of Brandon Robison and Brady McKinlay.
Starting on the back nine, Kwon went to work on Riverside’s par 5s, birdieing three of them and eagling the other.
“I missed one green all day and hit a lot of wedges close,” Kwon said. “I just wanted to be super present, not thinking about a number, just the shot in front of me.”
Comfortable on a course he knows well from BYU qualifying rounds, Kwon admitted to feeling the good kind of pressure early. “On hole 10 I thought, ‘Man, this is great — I love this pressure, I love this field.’”
A couple of late bogeys kept him from going lower, but in the morning wave of Round 1, Kwon’s scorecard already has everyone chasing. Click here for live scoring.
Larry H. Miller Utah Open opening round morning wave recap and photography by Fairways Media/Randy Dodson & Garrit Johnson.