All posts by : Utah PGA

Another year has come and gone, which means the 2021 Rolex Utah PGA Players of the Year have been decided. In an ever-competitive Section, this honor doesn’t come easy. Congratulations to:

Rolex Player of the Year: Casey Fowles, Sunset View GC

Rolex Senior Player of the Year: Mark Owen, Mountain View GC

Rolex Women’s Player of the Year: Haley Sturgeon, The Country Club

Rolex Assistant Player of the Year: Aaron Purviance, Red Ledges

This marks three consecutive years that Sturgeon claimed the Women’s Player of the Year Title, as for Fowles, Owen and Purviance, each are awarded the honor for the first time.

Fowles finished runner-up to Joe Summerhays in 2020, but with three victories and never finishing outside the top-10 in any of his 15 events played, he was hard to catch as he claimed first by over 1,000 points.

Owen also claimed three wins this season, highlighted by the Kean Ridd Utah Senior Open and the Senior Section Championship.

Sturgeon won the RMT/EZGO Winter Classic and finished runner-up in the Homestead Open, Siegfried & Jensen Utah Women’s Open and the Women’s Match Play Championship.

Purviance highest finish of the season was runner-up in the Utah Assistant PGA Championship but appearances in national events was the decider – qualifying for the PGA Professional Championship in April and then making the cut in the Assistant PGA Professional Championship in November provided just enough to win the 2021 honor.

2021 Rolex Player of the Year Points List.

The Utah PGA is joining forces with KSL’s Quarters for Christmas to have an influence on the lives of kids in our community. The UTAH PGA Family is an amazing group of individuals, we ask you to join our Utah PGA Cares campaign as we come together to make a difference. The Utah Section PGA will match your donations up to $5,000.

Quarters for Christmas provides coats and shoes for children in need, and 100% of the money we receive goes back to our community. The funds raised are distributed to Utah’s education foundations, Crossroads Urban Center, Catholic Community Services, and The Road Home.

With COVID, we know that the need is greater now than in the past. Our goal is to raise more money than ever.

• 100% of the donations go back to our community to help provide shoes and coats for children in need
• The funds are distributed to Utah’s education foundations to help kids around the entire state, Crossroads Urban Center, Catholic Community Services, and The Road Home
• The bulk of the money goes into the schools giving teachers the ability to help their students

Click here to make a difference and donate

December is here and so is the year’s final issue of Utah PGA Monthly digital magazine – a publication dedicated to recognizing and better communicating with Utah PGA Professionals.

In this issue we welcome seven new PGA Class A Members in the Utah Section:

Shawn Tharpe, Hidden Valley CC
Scott Bentley, The Ridge
Skylar Lambourne, Hidden Valley CC
Sue Nyhus, First Tee Utah
Zach Bowcut, Bonneville GC
Drake Neumann, Entrada CC
Gavin Eckert, Old Mill GC

Also included in this issue is Eaglewood Golf Course General Manager Tyler Abegglen who has recently become a PGA Certified Professional in all four available areas of the PGA’s Certified Professional Program.

Click Here to read the December issue.

And Click Here to read all past issues of Utah PGA Monthly.

The Utah PGA Pro-Assistants Championship, presented by TaylorMade, played at Sand Hollow and Sunbrook golf courses November 15-16, concluded the 2021 season for Utah PGA Professionals. Teams from The Country Club, Eagle Mountain and Hobble Creek all took advantage of the last event of the year.

The Country Club’s Wayne Fisher & Haley Sturgeon and Eagle Mountain’s Chris Marx & Triston Hartfiel finished tied at the top with a 13-under Best-Ball performance, finishing the two-day championship as co-champions.

Fisher & Sturgeon are familiar with the event, winning the 2019 showing. They started out strong with a (-9) 63 at Sand Hollow and followed with a (-4) 68 at Sunbrook.

“Wayne is steady-Eddie,” Sturgeon said. “He’s always down the middle and on the green so it frees my swing up where I can go for things we normally wouldn’t.”

“It is always a treat teaming up with Haley,” Fisher added. “she’s a player, which is fun. I can play my game and let her loose. For me to be able to sit back and ride her coat tails, we’ve been a great team over the years.”

Marx and Hartfiel started with a (-4) 68 at Sand Hollow and made their comeback at Sunbrook with a (-9) 63 – providing a win in Hartfiel’s first event in the Section.

“Well I hurt Chris’s back yesterday because he had to carry me so much that I had to make a couple of birdies today,” Hartfiel said.

“Neither one of us played amazingly deep,” Marx added, “we just ham-and-egged it. We both went on the putting matt last night and all of a sudden it happened today.”

In the net division, Hobble Creek stole the show as Craig Norman & Joel Grose tied with Norman & Sue Nyhus. A scorecard playoff determined Norman & Grose the winners – both teams finished 19-under.

A big thank you to Chris Nugent and the TaylorMade staff for sponsoring the event and to Adam Jasperson and his Sand Hollow Staff and Reed McArthur and his Sunbrook staff for hosting the championship.

Full Results Here.

Utah Section Professionals Joshua Leddy, Chase Hansen, Clint Godfrey and Aaron Purviance are set to compete in the 45^th National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship November 11-14 at PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Leddy, Hansen and Godfrey qualified to play in this year’s championship through the National Car Rental Utah Assistant Championship, played in August at Logan River and Eagle Mountain Golf Courses, where Leddy won the event, Hansen finished 3^rd and Godfrey 4^th.

Purviance, who finished runner-up in August, was exempt into the championship through his top-three finish in the 2020 Assistant PGA Professional Championship.

The Utah Section is well represented this week in Florida – best of luck!

Click here for Live scoring.

The PGA of America has a deep passion for honoring veterans and active military around the country. Veterans Day is November 11, 2021 and the PGA of America has also declared this a Day of HOPE (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere). 

In conjunction with the day, some of our golf facilities will be offering the following to veterans as a small token of saying thank you for your service:

Mulligans Creekside, North Ogden
Veterans get a free bucket of balls. Valid November 11.

Eagle Mountain Golf Course, Brigham City
Veterans play for free at Eagle Mountain that day. (just need to pay for cart). Please call or visit our website to make a tee time. Please mention you are a veteran when making your tee time. Valid November 11.

Glenmoor Golf Club, South Jordan
Veterans will receive 1 free medium bucket of balls, 1 free fountain drink, and a free 10 min lesson in the Indoor Center from 8am-4 pm. Valid November 11.

Glen Eagle Golf Course, Syracuse
Veterans: 18 holes with cart-$25/ 9 holes with cart $15. Free small bucket of balls for Veterans. Valid November 11.

Top Golf
From 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm Kevin Connole will be giving free 15 minute golf lessons to veterans. Visit his bay at Topgolf (bay 217) and he would be happy to check out your swing.  Valid November 11.

Logan River Golf Course
Free golf for all Veterans. 9 or 18 holes. Cart included. Show us your military ID and play for free. Thank you for your service. Valid November 11^th and 12^th. 

The Utah Section PGA annually honors and recognizes individuals dedicated to golf in Utah for going above and beyond to benefit the game. We are excited to announce this year’s winners and want to thank each recipient for their dedication to the Utah golf community.

The mission of the Utah PGA is to grow the game, these individuals along with all those nominated, help make this possible. We thank you all for representing the Utah PGA in such a positive way.

On behalf of the Utah Section PGA officers and staff, we present the 2021 Utah Section PGA Award winners:

Professional of the Year
Dustin Volk

Teacher of the Year 
Emily Jones

Assistant Golf Professional of the Year
Stacey Camacho

Youth Player Development Leader
Tele Wightman

Player Development Award
Rob Krieger

Merchandiser of the Year – Private
Thomas Barksdale

Merchandiser of the Year – Public 
Brett Watson

Jon Unger Salesperson of the Year            
Charley Carlson

Superintendent of the Year – Public
Steve Carter

Superintendent of the Year – Private        
Jake Ebner

PGA Professional Development Award     
AC Cox

Wesley Ruff Golf Citizen Award    
Eric “Doc” Iverson

Bill Strausbaugh Award           
Colby Cowan

Doug Vilven Distinguished Service Award     
Mike Stanger

Jeff Beaudry Golf Ambassador Award        
Devin Dehlin

Presidential Service Award
Gary Lewis

Thank you to the Utah Section PGA Awards Committee and members for helping to celebrate and recognize our PGA Professionals for their extraordinary effort to bettering golf in Utah.

The 2021-2022 Fall High School All-State Teams have been selected. Congratulations to those who earned a spot on the First-Team, Second-Team or Honorable Mention teams!

The quality of high school golfers these days is phenomenal and the difference between making an All-State team or not often comes down to one stroke or less throughout the season. The Utah Section PGA extends the honor of First Team All-State to the top-10 golfers in each classification, the next 10 are selected to the Second Team, and the next 10 are selected to Honorable Mention.

The Utah Section of the PGA of America has been actively supporting high school golf for over 25 years. Twenty-two years ago the Utah High School All-State Golf Program was developed. The All-State Golf selection process is unique among all-state honors programs in that it is all by the numbers. Thirty-five percent of a players best region scores and 65 percent of their state championship scores are used to rank each player. No arbitrary or influenced decisions, it’s all by the numbers. The players skills and scores earn the recognition.

This is just one of many community-based programs the Utah PGA operates each year to benefit our Utah Golf Community. Congratulations to all of these players on a fantastic year in golf.

Click here for the All-State Team selections.

In the same season Sue Nyhus became a Class A Member of the PGA of America, she clinched her first Utah Section PGA victory, winning the 2021 Utah PGA Women’s Match Play Championship at Alpine Country Club November 2^nd.

Nyhus defeated 2019 Women’s Match Play Champion and Salt Lake Country Club Assistant Pro Haley Sturgeon in the championship match 1-up on the 18^th hole.

Nyhus started the day with a semifinal match against Glenmoor Assistant Pro Sirene Blair. By the end of the day, her two matches had a lot in common.

Being 2-down through 8 holes in her match with Blair, Nyhus started her comeback. It wasn’t until winning holes 14 and 15 that she found her first lead of the match. A lead she would hang onto to, winning on the 18^th hole and advancing to the championship.

In the final match, Nyhus found herself 3-down through 7, after Sturgeon birdied holes 5, 6 and 7. But with Sturgeon finding trouble off the tee, Nyhus started climbing back with wins on 8 and 9 – and once again winning holes 14 and 15 to gain a 1-up lead. A lead she held onto until the finish.

“I know how good they are, they are amazing players, both of them,” she said of Blair and Sturgeon. “I just kept hanging in there, and I think the fact I kept hanging in there long enough, started to get to them.

“I didn’t make any birdies,” Nyhus said about the final match, “but I made a lot of pars.”

After a 9-hole seeding round, Nyhus claimed the 6^th seed and went on to defeat Utah PGA Jr. Golf Lead Intern Cassie Campos, Blair and then Sturgeon.

The win comes days after her induction into the Utah Golf Hall of Fame, adding another win to her storied career.

“After having to review all that stuff for my Hall of Fame speech and think about that 1999 Public Links, losing one-down on the last hole, that came up in my head several times today. I kept saying, ‘you’ve grown, you’re smarter, you’re more mature, you can stay in the moment, hit the shot that’s required. You don’t have to do anything more than do what you do.’”

Those thoughts worked in the end, as she went home with a new trophy.

Thank you to Neil Maurer, Brock Padilla, Kent Easton and their Alpine Country Club staff for hosting our championship this year.

In the Ninth Induction Ceremony of the Utah Golf Hall of Fame, four current and past members of the Utah Section PGA were celebrated and honored on October 29th for a lifetime of achievements in golf, making lasting impacts nationally and locally.

Honorees include Sue Nyhus, Steve Schneiter, Doug Vilven and Scott Whittaker.

Nyhus’ achievements in qualifying and competing in every USGA championship available to her is, and forever will be, unparalleled. Her career consists of not only competing at a high level, but collegiate coaching at Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University. She was elected to membership in the PGA of America in 2021.

Schneiter is very likely the most accomplished Utah professional who never became a member of the PGA Tour or Senior PGA Tour. Highlighting his estimated 100 professional wins are the 1995 PGA Professional Championship and the 2016 Senior PGA Professional Championship. He joins family members George Henry Schneiter, Ernie Schneiter Sr. and Ernie Schneiter Jr. in the Hall of Fame.

The Utah Section of the PGA exists thanks to the efforts of Doug Vilven, who passed away in 2018. Vilven’s impact on golf in Utah is immeasurable, but even more so in the lives he touched along the way. His creation of the Utah Section PGA and the Golf in the Round facility are just some of the accomplishments of his PGA career. He’ll be remembered more for who he was and the way he treated everyone he crossed paths with.

His son Mike said at the induction: “My dad loved the sport of golf and didn’t just see it as competition or a past time. Instead he saw it as a lifestyle, an outlet for both kids and adults to learn discipline and resiliency.”  

A founding father of the Utah Section PGA, and long-time Executive Director Scott Whittaker’s love for golf started as a young caddie at Oakridge Country Club. That love for the game inspired a career as a PGA head professional for almost 30 years, an executive director for 13 years, a member of the PGA of America board and countless awards in-between. Among his many achievements includes the remarkable growth of girls’ high school golf and the rebirth of the Utah Open. His induction into the Utah Golf Hall of Fame was an easy decision.

Thank you to the Utah Golf Association and the Utah Golf Hall of Fame Committee for recognizing the achievements of these four Utah PGA Professionals.

Others inducted include Lou North, Florence Halloran, Jeannie Goddard, Marion Dunn, Joe Watts and Riley Stottern. Congratulations to them and their families.