In uncertain times, it’s the simple things that go a long
way. Though there was a lot of planning and consideration into creating an
individual championship for spring high school golf, there were a lot of happy
faces on 5A and 6A girls competing individually at Fox Hollow Golf Club in
American Fork on May 27th.
The Utah Section PGA staff, alongside the Fox Hollow Golf Club staff put many precautions in play to ensure a safe, responsible outlet for golfers to play and compete. Though it doesn’t compare to a traditional high school state tournament, as this event was in no way affiliated with the Utah High School Activities Association, the top 10 finishers in each classification were rewarded a spot on the 2020 All-State Team, which the Utah PGA has awarded for the past 12 years.
Two girls stole the show at Fox Hollow: Lehi High School
junior Lila Galea’i won the 5A Individual Championship with a (-5) 68 and Lone
Peak sophomore Berlin Long won the 6A Girls Individual Championship with a (-6)
67, making a 30-foot birdie on the 18th hole to earn low score of
the tournament.
“It was super great, not a lot of tournaments going on so I was really looking forward to this one,” said Galea’i. “It was just really fun getting out and playing with all the girls… senior year next year, for me, so I need to make sure I don’t take any moments for granted and have fun and do my best. I just want to enjoy every moment I can with the Lehi girls.
Lila Galea’i
Galea’i certainly made the most of the playing opportunity
and made two eagles on the front nine, the first on the par-five second hole with
a 40-foot putt and the next on the par-five 9th hole.
In a windy afternoon, the 6A portion of the 5A/6A Individual
Championship took place with another top junior in the state taking control.
Lone Peak sophomore Berlin Long started with birdies on
three of her first four holes and claimed one more on the 9th to go
out in 33.
Seeing Galea’i finished at five-under as Long made the turn, it then became a goal of hers to get low score of the day.
Berlin Long
A rocky start to the back nine, with a par on the par-five 10th and a bogey on the par-three 13th, Long proceeded to make three birdies coming in, including her exciting finish on the 18th to cap it off.
“I knew that if I wanted to beat her, I had to make it. I just thought to not leave it short and give it a chance to go in,” she said of her putt on the last green.
“I’m really happy we were able to put it on and give seniors
a last chance to play,” Long said. “It was really fun. It’s definitely
different because you don’t get the team aspect, but we’re all out here
supporting each other.”
Palisade Golf Course Head Professional Jordan Van Orman had
many other things planned for the 2020 Sanpete County Open May 16th,
winning the event was not one of them.
“I think everyone knows how much goes into running a big
event, add in the COVID-19 precautions we had to implement and it made for
quite a busy week leading up to the tournament,” Van Orman said. “I was
drained, the thoughts at the forefront of my mind were not playing golf.”
Van Orman shot a (-9) 63 to win the tournament at Palisade,
one-stroke better than Riverside Country Club Head Professional Chris Moody and
two-strokes ahead of Promontory Director of Golf Ryan Kartchner.
It was the putter that Van Orman attributes to the win, “I
putted really well, I probably made around 100 feet worth of putts.”
But it was 96-yard wedge on the 16th hole that really showed how dialed his game was. “I had hit down into the adjacent fairway and had about 96 yards to the pin. With the ball below my feet, I grabbed my 60-degree wedge and ended up knocking it into the hole. It looked good coming of the club, but I never would have guessed that it would find the bottom of the cup.”
Expectations going into the event were more focused on running a good tournament, however, Van Orman has his sights on playing more events this season.
“You know I kind of had a mix of expectations,” he said. “In 2019 I played the least amount of golf since I turned professional. My wife and I had our first child in March 2019 and all of my time, thoughts and focus were on spending time with her and my family. I made the commitment early this year to play more golf now that she is a little older, so my expectations were higher but I never would have foreseen the results that came on Saturday.”
Up next for Van Orman is the Utah Section PGA Spring Pro-Pro and Four-Ball Championship with Sunset View Head Professional Casey Fowles and then the Millard County Open in June.
Steve Schneiter of Schneiter’s Pebblebrook won the Senior Professional division with four birdies and only one blemish on the card to finish (-3) 69.
There was a three-way tie for second place in the Senior Professional divsion between Mountain View’s Mark Owen, Bloomington Country Club’s Scott Brandt and BYU Men’s Coach Bruce Brockbank at (-1) 71.
Although there will be no high school sports sanctioned by the Utah High School Activities Association this spring, tournaments for female golfers and a few male golfers will be played later this month.
The Utah Section PGA, which has helped run the state girls golf tournaments for the past decade, will hold an individual championship with each high school able to invite six golfers to compete. No team competition will be held.
The first event will be played on May 27 at Meadowbrook Golf Course in Salt Lake County Fox Hollow Golf Course for girls that play at 6A and 5A schools. On June 3 June 4, a tournament for 4A, 3A and 2A girls as well as 1A boys will be played, also at Meadowbrook at Rose Park Golf Course (boys prep golf for classes 2A through 6A are held in the fall).
“We’re sensitive to all the seniors who didn’t get to play and feel bad they had to miss out on this season,” said Utah Section PGA executive director Devin Dehlin. “We look forward to being able to give the kids something to look forward to.”
The entry fee is $40 per player with entries taken at utahpga.com. Golf coaches should send their list of players to agoodman@pgahq.com. Entries will close May 15 at 11 a.m.
Dehlin said the safety of the players, staff and everyone involved in the events will be a priority and tournament officials will be following CDC guidelines. They also will be following guidelines current at most golf courses with no rakes in bunkers, flagsticks left in and no scoreboard or scoring area. No coaches or caddies will be allowed and a decision on whether to allow spectators will be made closer to the dates of the tournaments.
The Utah Section PGA will also name 10-player all-state teams from each classification after the meets.
The Oaks Open is traditionally the event that kicks off the
spring season for Utah PGA Professionals. Though the 2020 running of the event
looked a little different due to the current health pandemic, The Oaks at
Spanish Fork was a sight for sore eyes for many.
Red Ledges Assistant Professional Aaron Purviance put on a
show of eight birdies with only one blemish on the card to turn in a round of
(-7) 65 to win The Oaks Open on Saturday, May 2nd, one shot better
than Valley View Assistant Professional Pete Stone.
“Winning
this tournament was an awesome feeling considering I haven’t played a
competitive round in a couple months,” Purviance said.
“My putting was a lot better than usual, I was making putts that I normally don’t make and my speed control was great – didn’t miss inside 10 feet.”
Purviance on the par-five third hole at The Oaks.
The 23-year-old from North Carolina, who’s been in Utah for
three years, got off to a hot start with birdies on two of his first three
holes, taking advantage of the back-to-back par fives on holes two and three.
No matter his impressive start, it was his finish that handed
him the title, his first in Utah. With birdies on holes 15, 16 and 18, he
played the last four holes in three-under.
Stone started the back nine with an eagle, followed by three birdies, but it was two bogeys on the back, including the 18th hole, that caused the one-stroke deficit.
Stone finished one-shot back with a (-6) 66.
Purviance has his eyes set towards the Utah Open, with a
goal to win the 2020 event at Riverside Country Club in Provo, along with
placing well in the other events he plays in.
Bloomington Country Club Director of Golf Scott Brandt took the Senior Professional Division with a steady (-3) 69. With nine-straight pars on the front nine, Brandt turned it around with four birdies and only one bogey on the back, finishing strong with birdies on 17 and 18.
Scott Brandt won the Senior Professional division with a (-3) 69.
Bloomington Country Club and SunRiver Golf Club Owner Jimmy Blair finished two strokes behind Brandt with a (-1) 71 round for second place.
Jimmy Blair putting for birdie on the par-five third hole.
BYU commit Zach Jones, who had been serving an LDS mission for eight months until sent home temporarily due to the virus, repeated as Low Amateur with (-5) 67.
He was sitting in the corner of the viewing room by himself.
I looked at him, not catching his eye, and turned away thinking
that I had met him before, somewhere. He looked familiar but I couldn’t place a
name with his face. As much as I have run around in Utah’s golf circles it
bothered me that I could not name him.
I moved along the viewing line at Billy Casper’s funeral and
took a few more glances at him, again without catching his eye.
I paid my respects to Billy, his wife Shirley and the family
then turned to find a seat in the chapel.
With one last look, he was looking right back at me. Not wanting
to be disrespectful of someone I was sure I knew I walked over, shook his hand
and introduced myself.
He smiled and said, “I’m Doug Sanders.”
I knew just enough of the former PGA Tour member to recognize
his face but not enough to remember why.
For the next few minutes I sat with the “Peacock of the
Fairways” as he told me a few stories of playing with Billy during their PGA
Tour heyday. With a tear on his cheek he told me how they caravanned from stop
to stop and that Billy would come to Houston and play his tournament. He missed
the camaraderie of those days on tour.
Bob Casper said Sanders was known for going out of his way to be
nice. “My mother said it meant a lot to her and our family that Doug attended
the funeral.” He had driven to Utah from Texas to be there that day. Just for
Billy. “That was really special to us,” Casper said.
From head to toe you could not miss Doug Sanders. With 20 PGA
Tour wins he is best known for his neon-bright colorful apparel and for missing
a three-foot putt to win the 1970 Open Championship at St. Andrews. Sanders
lost the following 18-hole playoff to Jack Nicklaus by one-stroke, 73 to 72. It
was the second of three Nicklaus wins at the Open and the fourth of four
runner-up finishes Sanders had in major tournaments.
“I remember thinking how bizarre it was that he would show up at
an LDS church in Utah County,” says sports anchor Wesley Ruff. “I think
most people think of him as the guy who jabbed that little putt at the Open at
St. Andrews and ended up in a playoff with Nicklaus, which he lost. But he won
20 times on the Tour. That’s a lot! What he did in the majors in 1966 is pretty
amazing. Top 10 in all four that year! T2 at the British, T4 at the Masters, T6
at the PGA Championship, and T8 at the U.S. Open. And he won three times that
year, including a playoff win over Arnold Palmer at the Bob Hope Desert
Classic.”
Doug Sanders
Former Utahn Laury Livsey, the PGA Tour’s senior director of
international communications provides the following history of Sander’s playing
days in Utah:
“The two PGA Tour events Sanders played in Utah were the 1958
and1960 Utah Opens, both at the Salt Lake Country Club. He was T15 in 1958,
fifth in 1960. Pretty respectable. In 1960, he held the 54-hole lead
(64-67-64), two shots ahead of Bill Collins. He shot a final-round 71 to (Utah
Golf Hall of Famer) Billy Johnston’s
63 and finished four shots behind Johnston (a prince of a guy who will deserve
a long obituary and all the accolades despite not having near the career
Sanders had). It went Johnston, Art Wall Jr, Collins and Ken Venturi (T3) and
Sanders in fifth. A third-round 73 derailed his chances in 1958. As for his PGA
Tour Champions career, he played once at Park Meadows, in 1999, when he was
well past his prime. He finished 77th.”
Of the1960 Utah Open Deseret News sports writer George
Ferguson reported, “And so it was that despite multi-sensational rounds, which
entertained the huge galleries no end, the sub-par scorched course eventually
put the whammy on all previous leaders – Jay Herbert, Bill Collins, Doug
Sanders and Dow Finsterwald.
“Sanders, who carried a two stroke lead into Monday’s finale,
found his nemesis lurking in the island of scrub oak which protects No. 4 green
and prompts a play it safe or gamble decision.
“Doug gambled. And before he had scrambled out of the oak, onto
the bordering rough, in and out of a sand trap and into the cup, he had a bogey
and had lost the lead – at that particular point to Finsterwald and Collins.
“That seemed to set a scrambling pattern for Doug. The young man
with the brief backswing who shared the lead the first day and led the third
was through. He came in with a 71, a 266 total, good for fifth and
$1,100.” (Deseret News September 13,
1960.)
Of local interest, 2020 Utah Golf Hall of Fame inductee Lou
North was the low amateur of the 1960 Utah Open at T25 with professional Dick
Kramer. George Schneiter Sr. beat his nephew Ernie Schneiter Jr. for 28th place
and a $90 payday.
My only previous encounter with the Sanders persona happened in
the Las Vegas National clubhouse where, as a former winner of the 1959 Sahara
Pro Am, then an unofficial PGA Tour event and predecessor to the PGA Tour’s
Sahara Invitational, Sander’s complete pink outfit; shirt, sweater, belt, pant,
socks and shoes is enshrined in the Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame.
Though his life on tour was full of documented shenanigans off
the course, my memory of Sanders from our brief chat in Billy Casper’s viewing
room is of a soft spoken man with a vivid memory of meaningful times with
famous friends, playing a game that defined his life and lifestyle.
Sanders, at 86-years old, passed away earlier this week, on
Easter Sunday, in Houston, Texas.
Randy Dodson is the publisher of Fairways magazine and a frequent contributor to the Utah PGA News page.
A condensed version of Eric Kleven’s story was recently published in the April issue of Utah PGA Monthly digital magazine. The following is the full story, including the many impacts the AMK Foundation has on the Northern Utah community:
On September 26th, 2003, Ashlin Mae Kleven was born to the proud parents of Eric and Rachel Kleven and her two brothers, Keaton and Hayden. For the first nine months, Ashlin seemed like any ordinary child, until one day, her mom Rachel started seeing signs that Ashlin was leaning to her right side and no longer playing with toys or babbling. Ashlin was taken to the doctors where she was diagnosed with scoliosis.
Wanting a second opinion, we contacted Shriners Hospital in Salt Lake City. For the next six months, Ashlin underwent many tests, and fit for a scoliosis brace for her back to try and control the bending of her spine. She also needed ankle braces for standing. Ashlin was eventually diagnosed by the staff at Shriners Hospital with a genetic disorder called Rett Syndrome.
Being told your daughter will never walk or talk is very humbling.
Having a special needs child can be very expensive trying to determine what disorder she may have. Going through the process, Shriners Hospital wanted to be our secondary insurance which was a huge blessing. After the diagnosis, we wanted to give back to Shriners Hospital as they are a charitable hospital where the child always comes first, regardless of income, insurance or cost.
We started the Shriners Hospitals Charity Golf Event in 2005 with proceeds going to Shriners Hospital in Salt Lake City. This yearly event is held in August.
In 2013, we started the Ashlin Mae Kleven Foundation and became a 501(c)(3). We donate to the Shriners Hospitals Wheelchair Department in Salt Lake City each year. In addition, we focus on making an impact in our community here in Northern Utah.
In 2016, the AMK Foundation became a member of the
Philanthropic Society at Shriners Hospital in Salt Lake City.
Also in 2016, we added the AMK Foundation Par 3 Hole in One Challenge, where all 18 holes at Birch Creek are played from different Par 3 distances.
In 2017, we built the AMK Foundation/Bio-West Adaptive Center up at Beaver Mountain Ski Area to give all the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors year round, especially in the Winter. As a Ski Instructor for Beaver Mtn., it always bothered me that I couldn’t take my daughter skiing due to lack of accommodations for those with special needs. Beaver Mtn. allowed us to build an Adaptive Center so all could enjoy the mountain, whether it be skiing, snowboarding, or other activities.
In 2018, we helped a family in our community with twin special need boys achieve mobility through a grant with the AMK Foundation. Having a wheelchair accessible van for this family has impacted them greatly.
Being given a special needs child can inspire you, if you choose to do so. Inviting our customers and members here at the golf course to support the AMK Foundation, as well as fellow PGA Professionals donating golf to the auction makes the AMK Foundation Charity Golf Event a huge success.
Ashlin has taught our family what real service is all about. Everything we take for granted, Ashlin needs help with.
As a career, I get the opportunity to host many charitable events but having one named after my daughter is huge. Our community has really rallied around the AMK Foundation and our mission, which is to Continue Improving Kids Lives!
In addition to our AMK Foundation Event each year, we run other charity events. One of our member’s son has Angelman Syndrome. Three years ago, I helped him start the Angelman Foundation Charity Golf Event.
Another member’s father passed away from ALS. For the past 12 years, we’ve hosted the ALS Charity Golf Event.
As a PGA Member, get involved in your community and make a difference – Where there’s a need, make it happen! Our impact and involvement in our communities as a PGA Professional does not go un-noticed.
The community, through golf, can really impact all charity events.
We are proud to kick off the month of April with the newest edition of Utah PGA Monthly digital magazine.
In efforts to enhance communication with Utah Section PGA members, Utah PGA Monthly was created to celebrate and recognize PGA Professionals in Utah and all they do.
In this issue:
Why I Play – Joe Barton
Membership Memories – Ken Clark
Tips For The Pro – Eric Kleven
What’s in the Bag – Chris Moody
To read the April issue of Utah PGA Monthly, CLICK HERE.
Updated 3/17/20 with further announcements made by the PGA of America.
With the rapidly-evolving COVID-19 pandemic looming, the 2020 PGA Professional Championship (PPC) was postponed by the PGA of America on March 16th. The PGA of America then postponed the 2020 PGA Championship the following day, to be played “at a date this summer when it is once again safe and responsible to do so,” said PGA CEO Seth Waugh.
Comprised of PGA Professionals who advance from the 41 PGA Section Championships, along with past champions, the PPC, which started in 1968, sends the low-20 eligible finishers to compete in that year’s PGA Championship.
Due to the event being postponed, if the PGA Championship is played at a date later this summer, the 20 PGA Club Professionals in the field would be based on the top 20 eligible players listed in the final 2019 PGA Professional Player of the Year standings, Davis Park Assistant Professional, and 2019 Utah Section PGA Player of the Year Zach Johnson is listed eighth on the list and would be eligible to compete at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.
The decision to postpone the 2020 PPC and PGA Championship was made due to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation not to hold gatherings of 50 people or more for the next eight weeks and the current shelter-in-place order in effect in San Francisco.
Utah professionals that qualified for the 2020 PPC were Joe
Summerhays, Tracy Zobell, Tommy Sharp, Matt Baird, Todd Tanner and Ryan Rhees.
Johnson and Steve Schneiter were exempt into the event.
Unfortunately these qualifiers, other than Johnson, won’t
have the opportunity to qualify for the 2020 PGA Championship this year.
However, they will still have the chance to compete in the PPC once
rescheduled. We wish the best going forward and know future opportunities are not
out of reach for these exceptional PGA Professionals.
As the Master’s Tournament has been postponed, this would be
the year’s first major championship, now with a local Utah golf PGA
Professional to root for, congratulations to Johnson for a successful 2019
season.
The March issue of Utah PGA Monthly digital magazine is here! In efforts to enhance communication with Utah Section PGA members, Utah PGA Monthly was created to celebrate and recognize PGA Professionals in Utah and all they do.
