With a 24-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole at Toana Vista Golf Club, Riverside Country Club’s Chris Moody added his name to Utah golf history, defeating Tommy Sharp to win the Utah PGA Section Championship. The two matched 36-hole totals of 6-under 138 in the Sept. 9–10 event in West Wendover, Nevada, setting up a finish that was every bit as dramatic as the desert landscape.
The win makes Moody the first player to capture both the Senior Section Championship and the Section Championship in the same season—a double nobody had accomplished since the creation of the Senior Section Championship in 2008.
“I feel incredible. Honestly, I am a bit emotional,” Moody said moments after the winning putt dropped. “It’s just been, you know, what a great two week run that I’ve had. My game has just sucked all summer long. And then, you know, it’s fun to find a little game and win this championship and become qualified for the PGA Professional Championship.”
For a player we’ve grown accustomed to seeing excel consistently in Section events, Moody’s self-assessment drew laughter from the media. “That’s pretty dang cool,” he admitted, before reflecting on what he’d just achieved. “Well, I mean, you look at all the great players that we’ve had here, for as many years as we’ve had here in the Utah Section. I mean, we’ve got so many, just a great lineage of them for the last 50-60 years. And to be one of those, the only one to do that, that’s kind of a shocker to me, honestly, but it’s pretty cool.”
The championship run required Moody to stay steady in a closing stretch where the winds grew stronger in the late afternoon and the leaderboard tightened.
“I hadn’t looked at the live scoreboard all day long, until the 16th hole after I made birdie on our 15th hole, which is number six,” he explained. “I felt like it wasn’t playing real easy. You just never know when you’re out here in Wendover. I saw that Tommy was at 6-under, and I was at five with like four or five other guys. I hit a lot of great shots coming in … on number seven, made a great drive, great second shot, just missed it right at the bottom. I hit a nice little iron on the next hole, and two putted. Then a great little wedge in there (hole 18), about 15 to 17 feet, just saw the line and made it for birdie. It was great to get into the playoff with Tommy Sharp.”
That birdie at the last proved essential, sending the two Section veterans into extra holes where neither backed down. After two trips down the 9th hole in the playoff, the dramatic finish was set on the green of the third playoff hole, the first hole at Toana Vista. “You know, it’s like one of those putts, you just see the line,” Moody said. “It was almost like it was destiny for it to go in. I hit the putt and it was just dead center. It was great. It was 24-feet. I saw the line and I putted it right. When I hit it, I just knew it was going to go in. It was just a nice tumbling roll. So, it was exciting. I don’t get excited a lot on the golf course, but it was, like, probably the most excited I’ve been in a long time. So that is really cool.”
Moody’s victory also secures his place in the PGA Professional Championship next spring, a trip he’s already looking forward to. “It’s going to be fun. I have a brother that caddies up at Bandon Dunes, and when I saw it was in the rotation, you know, I marked that on my calendar. I’m like, ‘I have to make that so my brother can caddy for me.’ So, that’s going to be a blast. I can’t even wait to go up there and play there in April.”
For a player who’s already written much of the modern history of Utah Section golf, this win adds yet another chapter. Chris Moody isn’t just back in form—he’s now part of a record that may stand the test of time.
While Moody will be competing in the national Senior PGA Professional Championship as Utah’s Senior Section champion, the door opens for Sharp. As runner-up in Wendover, he accepted the champion’s exemption into next month’s PGA TOUR Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort—a reward that comes from the drama of their playoff finish.
Sharp will also be among the Utah PGA professionals joining Moody at the national PGA Professional Championship next year. Others qualifying from Wendover were Zach Johnson (-5), Todd Tanner (-5), Haley Sturgeon (-4), Tele Wightman (-4), and Evan Wartgow (-4). Players who finished at 3-under 141 battled in a playoff for alternate positions, with Joe Summerhays, Matt Baird, Tracy Zobell and Casey Fowles earning alternate spots in that order.
Also worth noting from this year’s Section Championship, Scott Brandt walked away with a pair of trophies, claiming both the Senior and Super-Senior division titles with a 7-under 137 on rounds of 67-70. Haley Sturgeon made history with her 4-under 71-69—140, winning the women’s division and tying for 5th place on the overall leaderboard. In doing so, she became the first woman in Utah PGA history to qualify for the PGA Professional Championship.
In the Legend Division, longtime Section veteran 71-year old Kim Thompson posted a 7-over 151 to edge Bob Rudd by two shots for the win.
2025 Utah PGA Section Championship Leaderboard
Utah PGA Section Championship tournament recap and photos by Fairways Media/Randy Dodson