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The Country Club Assistant Professional Haley Sturgeon has completed the hat trick when it comes to the Rolex Utah Section Women’s Player of the year, winning in 2019, 2020 and again in 2021 .

“Three years in a row is cool,” Sturgeon said. “I always want to set goals for myself and keep striving. Hopefully set records that way the women behind me, or in front of me, can break them. That way we can keep trailblazing as females in the golf industry. Hopefully it’s motivation for the other girls to come take it from me.

“Winning this award three years in a row means my hard work is paying off. I want to give my dad credit for keeping my game consistent. He is my practice buddy and has helped me around the golf course in almost every event this year.”

Sturgeon has won the award since she joined the PGA PGM Program, the first winner belongs to Glenmoor Head Pro Darci Olsen in 2018, when the category for Women’s Player of the Year began.

“It feels really good to win,” Sturgeon continued. “The ultimate goal is to win “THE” Player of the Year, so I’m going strive to that. but being Women’s Player of the Year, it feels great.”

Sturgeon started the year with a win in the RMT/EZGO Winter Classic and would proceed to finish runner-up in the Homestead Open, Siegfried & Jensen Utah Women’s Open and the Women’s Match Play Championship.

“I would say, honestly, the Match Play Championship was the most memorable. There were a lot of great matches, playing against Sue (Nyhus) at one of her home courses and a course I know well and going head-to-head with her was really fun. I’m obviously a little upset with the ending but really happy for her with the year she had. I really enjoyed it.”

Ending the season with a win in the Pro-Assistants Championship at Sand Hollow and Sunbrook is icing on the cake for her 2021 season.

 “The Pro-Assistant playing with Wayne and getting the win was great. The camaraderie we have with each other, we can bust each other’s chops but still stay in the moment and have a good time.”

2021 Rolex Utah Section Women’s Player of the Year Results.

In his second full season as a senior, Mountain View Golf Course Head Professional Mark Owen is the Rolex Utah Section Senior Player of the Year. He sits on top of the points list with 17 events played and 8,415 points earned – 799 points clear of 2020 Player of the Year Scott Brandt.

“Well it’s a first, it feels good,” Owen said.

“I still expect to play well enough to do well in the regular division,” Owen continued. “Every tournament I sign up for, I sign up in the regular division and then the senior division is a fall back. There are some specific events for the seniors and those are really nice, an added bonus.

“There’s three or four senior events that have a lot of weight like the Senior Section Championship, that was a big one, the Utah Senior Open was another big point-gainer, and I happened to win both of those.”

Winning the Kean Ridd Utah Senior Open and the Senior Section Championship alone make for an outstanding season, but adding a win in the Southern Utah Open and consistent play throughout the year made it impossible to catch him.

As for Owen’s most memorable event? “Probably the Kean Ridd Senior Open, I like that one. That was kind of a three-peat for me as a professional. I won it the first year, I was low pro with Ryan Rhees the second year and the third year I was able to win again.”

For the 2021 Rolex Senior Player of the Year points results, CLICK HERE.

For the first time in his career Sunset View Head Professional Casey Fowles earned the Rolex Utah Section Player of the Year, playing in 15 events, winning three times and earning a total of 6,360 points – 1,000 clear of second place finisher and two-time winner Zach Johnson.

“I think last year I was second and I’ve kind of been in the top-five,” Fowles said, “but it’s always something you look at near the end of the year and aspire towards. One thing that’s always kind of hurt me is getting off to a slow start in the spring, but being able to win the Winter Classic really helped me get a jump start on things and that was the difference this year.”

Fowles shot a final-round 62 at Sand Hollow in February to win the RMT/EZGO Winter Classic for his first victory of the season. He would go on to win The Oaks Open and the Mountainland Valley View Open as well.

“For me, it’s been a couple of years process. That’s the hard thing about golf, sometimes the changes and things you do take months-to-years before you see the results. I’ve worked hard on my body and my game for a few years. It’s fun to see the results from that.

“I had some really good rounds and I had that 62 at Sand Hollow, but honestly for me it was in our Section Championship where I was kind of struggling getting the ball in the hole. Going into the last hole, knowing I needed to par to get in a playoff or make a birdie to get in the National Club Pro and to make the birdie, that was the topper for the year – to dig down deep and do it when I needed to, that was the most memorable.”

Fowles strong 2021 season will reap it’s benefits in April of 2022 at the PGA Professional Championship at Omni Barton Creek as he will join the other seven Utah Section Pros who qualified through the Section Championship.

“Once you’ve been to it you want to go back every year because it’s such a fun event. To be able to do that and make birdie when I needed to was probably my most memorable and best part of the year for me.”

Click HERE for the 2021 Rolex Utah Section Player of the Year Points.

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.