All posts by : Randy Dodson

The LPGA Professionals announced Utah golf professional Melissa Hatten as its Professional of the Year as they honored the 2023 award winners for their dedication and achievements. Hatten is a LPGA Professional at Talisker Club (Tuhaye) in Kamas. 

The national award winners were selected by the LPGA Professionals membership’s Executive Committee from the pool of Section Award winners voted on by officers of the six regional sections: Central, International, Midwest, Northeast, Southeast and Western.

The LPGA Professional of the Year Award was established in 1980 and is awarded annually to an LPGA Professionals member primarily engaged in a golf operation, golf association, or industry position, promoting the game through player development, growth of the game initiatives, and other golf-related activities.

“Being named LPGA Professional of the Year is a culmination of many years of hard work, and this award is a testament to the support my family, friends, amazing mentors, members, the LPGA, TaylorMade Golf and Talisker Club have given me over the years,” expressed Hatten. “This award is even more special with the number of talented professionals within the LPGA membership. My life goal is not just to make a difference but to BE the difference, and I am excited for my future, and the future of both golf and the LPGA.”

A month before the start of the high school golf season, and his senior year, Rowland Hall’s Matt Siegal didn’t really envision himself playing high school golf this fall. He was just burned out on a golf, didn’t practice through the winter and barely picked up his clubs throughout the spring and summer.

Siegal’s dad convinced him to just go out and see if the joy came back, especially since his senior season was also the last year for long-time head coach Stacey Camacho.

A few practices in, the golf itch game back for Siegal, and that dedication came to fruition on Thursday during the final round of the 2A state tournament at Glendale Golf Course

Siegal’s 7-under 65 in Round 2 not only helped him win 2A state medalist honors after tying for third a year ago, but it also led Rowland Hall snap Beaver’s five-year reign over 2A as the Winged Lions captured the title by two strokes.

Rowland Hall backed up Wednesday’s 305 with another 305 of Thursday, finishing with a two-day score of 610, which was just barely good enough to edge Beaver’s 612.

“They worked really hard the last few weeks, really came out and prepared on the course a lot, a lot of putting a lot of short game. A lot of work believing in themselves,” said Camacho, whose team had a two-stroke lead after Day 1.

Read more by Deseret News’ sportswriter James Edward, Click Here.

Twelve All-Star teams will tee off in the 13u National Car Rental PGA Jr. League Championship at PGA Frisco’s Fields Ranch West Oct. 4-8. The Inaugural 17u Championship at New Mexico’s Twin Warriors Golf Club follows Nov. 16-19.

In two weeks, 96 junior golfers ages 10-13 comprising 12 Regional Champion All-Star teams will travel to PGA Frisco’s Fields Ranch West to compete in the 11th edition of the 13u National Car Rental PGA Jr. League Championship, to be held Oct. 4-8 and broadcast live on ESPN networks. 

It’s an exciting year for PGA Jr. League as a whole. In addition to celebrating a record 72,000 participants this year to date, 2023 marks the first year the 13u Championship will be held at the new Home of the PGA of America as well as the launch of the inaugural 17u Championship, set for Nov. 16-19 at Twin Warriors Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico.

The 13u National Car Rental PGA Jr. League Championship includes Team Utah (Thanksgiving Point A/Lehi) with PGA of America Coach Tele Wightman and Assistant Coach Jared Huish. Team Utah was the 2021 National Champions.

The 13u Championship kicks off Wednesday, Oct. 4, with the National Car Rental Welcome Party, followed by the annual Skills Challenge Thursday, Oct. 5. Rounds one and two will take place Friday and Saturday (Oct. 6-7), during which teams will compete in a two-person scramble, team aggregate stroke play format. The Championship concludes with match play semifinal and final rounds on Sunday, Oct. 8. The eight teams not competing in the semifinals can participate in the Fields Ranch Roundup, a 9-hole, two-person scramble.

In November, 12 Regional Champion All-Star teams of 72 junior golfers ages 14-17 will take center stage in the inaugural 17u National Car Rental PGA Jr. League Championship, Nov. 16-19, at Twin Warriors Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico.

Included in the field is Team Utah (Glenmoor GOATS) with PGA of America Coach Darci Olsen and PGA of America Assistant Coach Bruce Summerhays.

National Car Rental was named the inaugural title partner of the Championship Season in 2021. PGA Jr. League’s biggest corporate partner since 2018, as well as an Official Partner and the Official Rental Car of the PGA of America since 2012, National’s title partnership aims to continue fueling meaningful growth of PGA Jr. League and support the program’s endeavors to welcome more kids to the game.

Read more about the 13U Thanksgiving Point A and 17U Glenmoor GOATS teams in the August issue of Junior Fairways, Click here.

PGA Teaching Professional Tommy Sharp won the Utah PGA Professional Championship this week at Toana Vista Golf Course to secure his spot in the 2024 PGA Professional Championship, April 28-May 1 at Fields Ranch at PGA Frisco, Frisco, Texas. 

Sharp finished at 12-under par 132 on rounds of 64-68 to edge runner-up Matt Baird by two shots. Baird and Aaron Purviance, who finished in third place at 9-under par, shot the low scores of the final round with (-7) 65s. 

Rounding out the top five, who also qualified for the national PGA Professional Championship, were Baird, Purviance, Zach Johnson (-8) and Thomas Cook (-6).

Those finishing at 5-under 139, Casey Fowles, Mike Jurca and Chris Moody, entered a playoff for the two qualifying spots with Fowles and Jurca making it through. 

Alternate qualifiers include Moody, Jordan Gibbs (-4), Derek Butts (-3) and Bruce Summerhays (-3). 

For Sharp the win “saved my season” and checked off his season goal of returning to the national championship. 

“It’s my whole year,” Sharp said. “I think this is my ninth time, I’ve been to a bunch of them. All of my practice and training is to be able to qualify. I make my plans all winter for this. I want to play in the PGA Championship one more time. That’s my goal.”

Steve Schneiter, who is exempt into the PGA Professional Championship as a former champion, captured the Senior Division win at Toana Vista with a 8-under 136 performance. Two strokes back was Henry White, who won the Super Senior Division. The top five also included Joe Summerhays (-3), Dustin Volk (-3) and Mark Owen (-1). Owen previously won the Utah PGA Senior Match Play and Utah PGA Senior Championship to qualify for the Senior PGA Championship. 

Robert Rudd carded a (+2) 70-76 -146 to win the Legend Division by two strokes over Roy Christensen. With a (+3) 75-72 – 147 Sue Nyhus claimed the Women’s Division title. 

Once again Wendover Resorts and Toana Vista Golf Course provided championship-level hospitality for the event.

Click here to see the complete leaderboard for all divisions. 

For more information on the 2024 PGA Professional Championship, Click Here

Utah PGA Professional Championship recap story and photos provided by Fairways Media/Randy Dodson. 

As the summer season starts to give way to cooler morning temperatures and fall colors, Hobble Creek Golf Course was the host of the annual Utah Senior PGA Championship, Sept 5-6. 

While crowning a champion, the event also served as a qualifying tournament for the national Senior PGA Professional Championship to be held later this fall.

As we change from summer to fall some things remain the same this season as Mountain View Head Professional Mark Owen claimed another Senior title this year. With a (-3) 139 on rounds of 69-70, Owen took home the champion’s trophy and first place check of $1,500. 

First round leader Dave DeSantis was next at even par 142 for the tournament with Steve Schneiter, Doug Roberts and Joe Summerhays finishing tied for third place at (+1) 143. 

“It’s always fun to win,” Owen said while acknowledging he wasn’t happy with his putting and that 49-year old Todd Tanner, who isn’t age eligible for the championship but will be in time for the national championship, shot a lower score of (-5) 137. 

With birdies on three of the four par 5s Owen said, “The par fives are gettable here at Hobble Creek and I played them well. But believe it or not my putting stinks, I think I had five three putts today.”

Owen, the current Utah PGA Senior Match Play champion, made nine pars and five birdies versus four bogeys in the final round, including bogeys on the first and last holes.

“But, I changed my game plan and just started making pars. I was just a little off today but the golf course is really tricky and anything under par was really good.” 

Qualifying for this year’s national Senior PGA Professional Championship were Todd Tanner (-5) 137, Dustin Volk (-3) 139, Owen, DeSantis and Summerhays, who defeated Doug Roberts in a playoff for the last qualifying spot. 

Schneiter has an exemption for the national championship as a past champion, winning in 2016.  

Both Tanner and Volk will turn 50 in the next two weeks making them age eligible for the the national Senior PGA Professional Championship presented by Cadillac, contested October 26-29 at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Florida. 

The national event is “a springboard for more to come if you play well,” said Owen. “I’m not exactly sure what the number of spots are that go to the Senior PGA Championship, I think it’s 20 to 25 spots. So that’s the goal, to go and try to get into a major event.”

Final leaderboard: https://tinyurl.com/5ktfv7u7

Spencer Wallace, a teaching professional at the Tee Box golf training facility in St. George, shot (-5) 70-67 – 137 to win the National Car Rental Utah Assistant PGA Championship at Hobble Creek GC, Sept. 5-6.

It was his first time playing in the championship as Wallace is a Level 1 PGA Associate. Wallace was four-shots clear of runner-up Evan Wartgow, an Assistant PGA Professional at Park Meadows Country Club.

Jaydn Wayment (The Barn), Braden Price (Toana Vista), Tyler Dalton (Southgate) and Wallace held the opening round lead at (-1) 70. It was Wallace making the biggest move on the final round with a (-4) 67 at the Springville City course. 

Rounding out the top 5 were defending champion Braydon Swapp (The Barn), tied for third at even par and Aaron Purviance (Red Ledges), finishing fifth with a (+1) 143. 

Hitting a “ton” of fairways, Wallace said, “I drove it really well which put me in a lot of really good positions (off the tee). I hit my irons really well as well, so I took a lot of pressure off myself. So it was fun.”

Wallace’s last win came at the Valley View Open in 2019. “I’ve been playing really well lately, putting some good rounds together, so this means a lot and I’m excited about what’s to come.”

Qualifying for the national Assistant PGA Championship from the tournament were Assistant PGA Professionals Wartgow, Purviance and Dalton who got by Alex Bennington (Red Ledges) in a playoff for the remaining qualifying spot.

Qualifying as alternates were Bennington, Paul Phillips (Stonebridge) and Haley Sturgeon (The Country Club).

Sturgeon, expecting her first child in December, shot (+6) 73-75 -148 to earn the top spot in the Assistant Women’s division that also included Sirene Blair (PGA of America) and Nyomy Obcemea (Ogden Golf & Country Club).  

Final Leaderboard: https://tinyurl.com/bd99n6x5

Story and photos by Fairways Media/Randy Dodson

The PGA Junior League post season is upon us. Eight teams from Utah qualified to compete next week in Twin Falls, Idaho at the Region Championship. The teams had the chance to qualify through two different routes. The Utah PGA Junior League Section Championship, or Play Day Leaderboard ranking.

Read more about the Utah PGA Junior teams heading to Idaho and how they qualified in the current JUNIOR Fairways digital issue in a feature story written by Annie Fisher. Click Here.

Hundreds of PGA Jr League All-Star Teams are set to compete in 12 National Car Rental PGA Jr. League Regional Championships in September. Read more from PGA.com. Click Here.

The Utah PGA hosted the Drive Chip & Putt Sub-Regional today at Glenmoor Golf Club. 

Each of today’s participants qualified earlier this season at one of four local qualifiers, placing in the top 3 of their respective age groups. Today’s top two qualifiers in each age group will move onto the Regional Qualifying at Chambers Bay this September with hopes of qualifying to the National championship held next April at Augusta National Golf Club.

Nicklaus Miller of the Boys 12-13 section posted the day’s high score at 156 on a 56-40-60 split claiming his spot at Chambers Bay. Jordan Ofahengaue claimed the second qualifying spot of the age group posting 139. 

Girls 12-13 division winner Saylor Wagner claimed the division title with her 127 point performance leading all girl participants thanks to a division high in chipping and putting. Marissa Johnson followed, scoring 114 on a 44-25-45 split, claiming her qualifying bid.

Blake Brown and Mack Herzog moved on out of the Boys 14-15 division along with Tazlyn Wagner and Navy Hubbs of the Girls 14-15 division. 

Boys 10-11 division and Boys 7-9 division leaders Emery Johnson, Dallin Pratt, Graham Benson, and Beckam Andrus will all appear at Chambers Bay this September. 

The final participants making the push towards Augusta from Utah came from the Girls 10-11 division and Girls 7-9 division. Eveylyn Schulthies led the Girls 10-11 division scoring 100 points with Sophie Ma finishing as runner up with 84 points. Treyva Woodlief and Ruby Monson claimed the two qualifying spots in the Girls 7-9 division.

Thank you to all our participants and best of luck to those who qualified for Chambers Bay!

Full leaderboard is available here.

Drive, Chip and Putt Sub-Regional Qualifier recap story written by Utah PGA intern Josh Green. Photos by Utah PGA Intern Drew Gagan.

Zac Blair’s golf ball took one big hop and caromed off the flagstick of Riverside Country Club’s No. 17 green, bouncing sharply to the right and ending up 20 feet from the hole.

In that moment, Blair was asking himself pretty much the same question as his father, Jimmy, who likes to playfully prod him: When are you ever going to win the Siegfried & Jensen Utah Open?

Well, Sunday, as it turned out. On his 33^rd birthday, following a four-hole playoff with University of Utah golfer Javier Barcos of Spain at Riverside Country Club, Blair’s home course.

Question? Answered. But only after “probably the best shot I’ve ever hit,” as Blair described, took that wicked turn on No. 17 and he barely missed the birdie putt, flipping his putter in disbelief for the second time in three holes.

“Definitely, it starts creeping in, like, wow, nothing’s really going right,” Blair said.

He responded with a wedge shot to within 2 feet of the hole on the par-4 No. 18, leading to a birdie. His 15-under-par total (69-67-65) was good enough to get him into the playoff with Barcos, as they finished one stroke ahead of four pros: BYU alumni Carson Lundell (thanks to a closing 64) and Rhett Rasmussen (65), Gavin Cohen of Phoenix and Matt Snyder of Las Vegas, who eagled both the par-5 No. 15 and the par-4 No. 16 in the final round.

Blair’s check for $22,000 was the biggest awarded in the Utah Section PGA’s stewardship of the event, with Siegfried & Jensen as the title sponsor for the 21^st year. The four pros who tied for third overall each earned $10,125.

Special Olympics Utah, as always, was deservedly the big winner. The organization received $50,000 to conclude a week when athletes and other SOUT personnel contributed more than 1,000 volunteer hours of work.

In the tournaments within the tournament for Section pros, Braydon Swapp shot 11 under par (tying for eighth place overall) and collected a $1,500 bonus for his two-stroke victory over Casey Fowles. Mark Owen posted a 1-under total to claim the Senior Sidebar’s $700 top prize by one shot over Jeff Brehaut. For the first time, that competition was extended to 54 holes.

The playoff was the Utah Open’s longest in at least this century, topping B.J. Staten’s three-hole win in 2014, launching the tournament’s Riverside era. Blair and Barcos played No. 18 three times, going par-birdie-par. Blair’s par was sufficient on the par-3 No. 9, where Barcos lipped out a 20-foot putt after a bunker shot.

“I’m just glad to win,” said Blair, a PGA Tour veteran who lives in Orem and regularly competes in the Utah Open if he’s not in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. “It’s so cool. It makes me really happy.”

Time for some history lessons: Blair joins his father and Patrick Fishburn, a fellow Fremont High School/BYU graduate, among the nine golfers who have won both the State Amateur and the Utah Open. The Blairs are believed to be the only father-son pair with amateur and open titles in any state. Jimmy Blair won the State Am in 1973 and the Utah Open in ‘81; Zac Blair’s State Am victory came in 2009.

“My dad’s my hero,” Blair said, his voice catching.

BYU’s Simon Kwon, who bogeyed the last two holes and finished seventh at 13 under, nearly became the first player to win the State Am and the Utah Open in the same year since Ed Kingsley in 1934.

Barcos, a co-leader after each of the three rounds, almost produced a victory to match former Ute teammate Blake Tomlinson’s title of last August.

“I mean, it was awesome,” he said of the playoff. “We both played really good.”

Asked if losing to a PGA Tour player softened the effect, Barcos said, “I mean, losing is losing.”

But then he noted how Tomlinson told him about Blair’s tour status, as he waited to receive the trophy for low amateur. “That kind of actually made me feel a little better,” Barcos said. “He deserved this, for sure.”

Blair certainly will take it, after coming close again last August, when he tied for second place, two shots behind Tomlinson. Then, he was preparing for a return to the PGA Tour after lengthy rehabilitation from shoulder surgery. A year later, he was holding a trophy for the first time since 2019, when a Korn Ferry Tour win in California assured him of going back to the big tour. 

Click here for the final round leaderboard of the 96th Siegfried and Jensen Utah Open.

Utah Open final round recap feature written by Fairways Media senior writer Kurt Kragthorpe. Photos by Fairways Media/Randy Dodson.

Having four players tied for the top spot going into the final round only begins to tell the story of the Siegfried & Jensen Utah Open.

The fact that a dozen other golfers are within two strokes of the lead offers all kinds of possibilities Sunday at Riverside Country Club in Provo.

University of Utah senior Javier Barcos joins three out-of-state pros on top of the leaderboard at 9 under par for 36 strokes, but nothing guarantees the winner will come out of that foursome. The contenders come from just about every category you could imagine in a state open, following a second round that was delayed by dangerous weather for 55 minutes in the early evening.

The group at 8 under features PGA Tour veteran Zac Blair, who’s aware of the history he could make by winning, plus recent BYU graduate David Timmins, a PGA Tour Canada golfer. Then there’s Braydon Swapp, the reigning Assistant Player of the Year in the Utah Section PGA, and State Amateur champion Simon Kwon, who’s seeking another notable achievement.

Swapp leads the Utah pros in the Section Sidebar competition within the 54-hole tournament. Mark Owen (71-71) already claimed the 36-hole Senior Sidebar (50-over) title at 2 under, three strokes ahead of Joe Summerhays and Jeff Brehaut.

The cut to 60 players and ties came at 1 over par, with CBS broadcaster Tony Romo (73-72) advancing and Utah Women’s Open champion Lika Galea’i (75-71) of BYU missing by one shot.

Back to Sunday’s chase. The eight players at 7 under includes the likes of host pro Chris Moody, two-time winner Clay Ogden and Lone Peak High School star Kihei Akina, who played in last summer;s final group on Sunday.

Any of those Utahns would make a great story, although someone may have to do something spectacular to overtake the co-leaders, including Gavin Cohen of Phoenix and Zane Thomas and Matt Snyder of Las Vegas.

“Probably have to go shoot 8 or 9 under, I would assume,” Blair said.

Blair closed with a 66 (-6) last August to tie for second place at 16 under, two shots behind Blake Tomlinson. That round marked his final tuneup for what has become a successful 2022-23 return to the PGA Tour after shoulder surgery. In this year’s case, Blair is filling a gap in his schedule during the FedEx Cup Playoffs, prior to the PGA Tour’s Fall Series.

“I would love to win it,” he said of the Utah Open. “It’d be really cool.”

Blair knows that his father, 1981 champion Jimmy Blair, is on a short list of golfers who also have won the State Amateur in their careers. Kwon, meanwhile, could become the first winner of the State Am and the Utah Open in the same year since Ed Kingsley in 1934.

Barcos, who’s from Spain, could follow former Ute teammate Martin Leon as a rare international winner of one of Utah’s major tournaments. Leon took the 2021 State Am title.

After being tied with Thomas for the first-round lead at 66, Barcos added a 69 that included some back-nine ups and downs. “Struggled a little bit with my driver,” he said. He failed to birdie the two par-5 holes on Riverside’s front nine (his second side) and bogeyed No. 6.

Yet he described himself as “overall really happy and with a lot of confidence heading to the last round.”

He’s definitely not the only one in that frame of mind, which should make for a fun final round.

Click here for the 36-hole Utah Open leaderboard.

Utah Open second round recap story written by Fairways Media senior writer, Kurt Kragthorpe. Photos by Fairways Media/Randy Dodson.