By Josh Green

The Utah PGA Junior series hosted their second Junior Major of the year on June 21-22 with the Tooele County Major taking place at Oquirrh Hills Golf course. With one Utah State Amateur spot available players competed for the bid alongside a qualifying spot into the Major Championship taking place at Hobble Creek this July, which can be clinched with a top 3 finish in any age division.

After 36-holes three individuals found themselves tied at 3-over-par 147. With only one State-Amateur spot available Cooper Nelson, Ben Ackley, and Eastyn Ewell entered a three-man playoff. After one hole Nelson came out on top by saving par, earning himself an entry into the State-Amateur. Despite falling to Nelson in the playoff Ackley clinched a spot into the end of season Major championship alongside third place medalist for the Boys 17-18 division Daniel Chandler, who carded 9-over-par 153 for the tournament. 

The Girls 17-18 division was also decided by a one-hole playoff between Madalyn Hadley and Avery Parker who finished 36-holes at 14-over-par 158. After getting up and down for par Hadley clinched the division title. Alongside Hadley and Parker Hunter Gledhill medaled in the division shooting a 15-over-par 159, joining them in the end of season Major.

Ewell captured the Boys 15-16 title by five strokes thanks to a 1-under-par second round highlighted by an eagle on hole 17. Following Ewell, a three-way tie for second with scores of 8-over-par 152 by Bronx Campbell, Cameron Summerhays, and Rocco Humphrey rounded out the medalists for the division. 

In route to a Girls 15-16 division title Kate Walker was the only individual to card an under-par performance throughout the tournament. Walker’s 2-under-par second-day performance led to a tournament low 142. Remi Rawlings and Shelby Gardner earned division medalist honors with Rawlings carding 156, 12-over-par, and Gardner carding 160, 160-over-par. 

Wyatt Biagi and Tazlyn Wagner topped the Boys 13-14 and Girls 13-14 leaderboards shooting 156 and 161 in the tournament. Boone Brown and Gordon Gatrell earned medalist honors in the Boys 13-14 division and will join Biagi in the end of season Major Championship while Mikaila Lieu and Paige Anae will join Wagner in the Girls 13-14 division.

Tooele County Junior Major photos including all division medalists are available here.

A full leaderboard and more information is available at utahpga.com.

The road to Augusta made a stop at the Utah PGA Junior Series’ Chip & Putt Local Qualifier Thursday at Rose Park Golf Course. 

Drive, Chip & Putt provides junior golfers 7-15 years old the opportunity to compete at a high level emphasizing on the three main parts of golf. The competition is composed of three drives, three chips, and three putts. Scores are based on the distance of each drive as well as each ball’s proximity to the pin in the chipping and putting categories. 

Kolt Coleman of the Boys 14-15 age division posted the highest score of the day with a 149 and led his division in driving, scoring 39 driving points. Each of the three qualifiers in the Boys 14-15 age division led one categorical aspect of the competition. Cruz Davidson placed second scoring 116, and led the division with 50 chipping points while Zeke Harris rounded out the top three putting up a 106 and thanks to a strong putting performance with 65 putting points, leading his division.

Jraice Finau clinched his spot into the Sub-Regional Qualifier leading the Boys 12-13 division with 128 points thanks to a division leading 36 drive points and 60 putt points. Dylan Distefano and Easton Naea also qualified with Distefano scoring 113 and Naea 112. 

Max Monson scored a 138, the second-best score of the day, en route to capture the Boys 10-11 division. Emery Johnson from Sandy, UT earned runner up honors scoring 128, while Brooks Miller from Bountiful, Utah clinched the last qualifying spot in the division with 97 points. 

Inoke Finau, Will Kroll, and Kristian Short led the Boys 7-9 division, all earning qualification into the Sub-Regional.

Ava Wenrer of the Girls 14-15 division led all girls scoring after leading the division in driving and chipping, scoring a total of 120. Morgan Thomas earned runner up honors with the second-best score of the day thanks to a strong 47 point putting performance, a division best.

Eleanor Henderson Girls 12-13 division winner, along with Taya Snow, and Anushka Rajeev who earned podium honors all advanced to the Sub-Regional after posting 90 plus performances. Girls 10-11 division winner Evelyn Shulthies posted a 95 en route to earning a qualifying spot.

Ruby Fisher claimed the Girls 7-9 title leading the division in driving and putting scoring 44 points followed by Oakley Young who posted a 40 and Ruby Monson who posted a 39, all three will advance to the Sub-Regional. 

The full leaderboard and qualifiers list is available here. 

The Rose Park Qualifier is the second of four Local Qualifiers with the final two taking place at Mountain View Golf Course on June 22, and Eagle Mountain Golf Course on July 7. Just a few Local Qualifier spots remain, enter a Local Qualifying Event today.

After each local qualifier the top three participants with the highest total scores from each age division will move onto the Sub-Regional held at Glenmoor Golf Club on August 25 with the opportunity to play their way to the Regional Qualifier at Chambers Bay. Winners from the Regional Qualifier will advance to the National Finals held at Augusta National the Sunday before the Masters. 

Story by Utah PGA Junior Series Intern, Josh Green. Photos by Utah PGA Junior Series.

The Utah PGA Junior Series hosted a national qualifier June 12-13 at Soldier Hollow’s Silver Course, as participants pursued playing spots in the national Junior PGA Championship. The top-two players in the Boys 16-18 and Girls 16-18 age groups qualified for the national championship to be played at the Hot Springs Country Club in Hot Springs, AR in August.

Oklahoma State University commit Parker Bunn carded a tournament best 61 in his second round clinching the first qualifying spot in the Boys 16-18 age group. Bunn finished the 36-hole event 18-under-par (65-61), a seven-stroke win. Bunn’s remarkable final round included 11 birdies on a clean card of no bogeys. He carded afront nine score of 29 with seven birdies.

Bowen Mauss and Toatele Ofahengaue both finished the event at 11-under-par. With only one qualifying spot remaining a playoff was set to determine the final qualifier. Mauss ousted Ofahengaue in the two-hole playoff to advance to Hot Springs this August, leaving Ofahengaue as the first alternate.

 Ali Mulhall, the Girls 16-18 medalist played her way into the national championship after carding a 12-under-par 36-hole performance which included seven birdies in her final round. Arden Louchheim earned the second qualifying spot carding a final round 4-under-par performance to finish 4-under-par for the tournament. 

Alternates Aadyn Long and Natalie Mclane carded under-par performances with Long finishing at two-under par, earning first alternate and Mclane finishing 1-under-par, earning the second alternate position.

Due to opening round weather delays the Boys 13-15 and Girls 13-15 age groups competed in a shortened 27-hole event. 

Max Landon from Kaysville, became the Boys 13-15 Utah PGA Junior champion with a 31-69 – 100 for the tournament. Brock Porter and Will Anderson finished a stroke back, sharing the second-place honors. Porter shot up the leaderboard after his 8-under-par performance in his second round. 

After both shooting even-par 36’s in their 9-hole first rounds Tacee Hess and Hazel Peters once again found themselves tied heading into the 27th hole. Hess’ final hole birdie clinched the 2023 Girls 13-15 division. Hess finished at 9-over-par with Peters earning runner up at 11-over par. Ellie Von Kolen and Navy Hubbs earned podium honors finishing at 14-over-par.

Full leaderboard recognizing the older division qualifiers and alternates is available here.

Written by Josh Green, a Utah PGA Junior Series intern. Photos by Fairways Media/Randy Dodson and Utah PGA staff. 

The Utah PGA Junior Series season is now in full swing with Glenmoor Golf Club playing host to the first Utah PGA Junior Major of the year, June 8-9th.

Utah PGA Junior Majors serve as the main events of the tournament calendar for boys and girls ages 13-18. In addition to earning exemption spots into the season ending Major Championship at Hobble Creek Golf Course, the Glenmoor Junior Major handed out qualification spots to medalists in both Boys and Girls 15-18 fields for the AJGA Salt Lake Junior at Glenmoor to be held August 1-3, 2023.

The 36-hole Glenmoor Junior Major produced worthy champions for those AJGA spots as Parker Bunn and Natalie McClane earned medalist honors. 

McLane, the 2A Girls State champion from Draper APA, finished 5-over par with rounds of 72-77 – 149, a full six shots better than overall runner-up Lily Shin of American Fork High School. Completing the top five were Ellie Jo Olson in third place at (+12) 156 with Sydney Richards and Madalyn Hadley tied for fourth place at (+13). McLane took first place in the Girls 15-16 division.

Parker Bunn, an Oklahoma State Men’s Golf commit playing out of Bonneville High, earned the top spot and the AJGA exemption in the Boys 17-18 division with a (-5) 68-71 – 139 scorecard. Elliot Bond (-4, 140), Lincoln Markham, Bowen Mauss and Jaxon Erickson, all (-2) 142 rounded out the top 5. 

Bunn opened the tournament with a 4-under 68 at the South Jordan course while Bond closed with a 5-under 67, the low round of the tournament. Bond won the Boys 15-16 division. 

Others earning medalist honors at the Glenmoor Junior Major were Calvin Lillywhite (Boys 13-14), Molli Mulhall (Girls 13-14) and Lily Shin (Girls 17-18).

For complete scores in all age divisions, click here. The top three players in all age divisions earn exemptions to the Junior Major Championship.

Thank you to PGA Professional Darci Olson and her staff at Glenmoor Golf Club for hosting the first Utah PGA Junior Major of the season. 

With a darkening sky and a threatening thunderstorm, Bonneville Golf Course Head PGA Professional Jordan Gibbs made a birdie on the Par 5 5th at Hubbard Golf Course to defeat Tommy Sharp on the 24th hole of the final match, to win the Utah PGA Match Play Championship, May 24th.

Gibbs and Sharp advanced to the championship match by defeating former Match Play champions Zach Johnson and Dustin Volk in the semifinal matches Wednesday morning.

The final match was a grind for both players after Sharp had gone 3-up after five holes with both players experiencing the match play rollercoaster of emotions. The low point for Gibbs came after going 4-down heading into the par 3 13th. 

Gibbs won the 13th when Sharp uncharacteristically missed the green short and right and then could not get up and down for par. Gibbs gained another hole when Sharp missed a tricky four-footer at the 14th.

With momentum on his side, Gibbs then won his third hole in a row with a second shot 8-iron from the right rough to just a few inches from the hole on the par 5 15th. The conceded eagle left Sharp with a 1 up lead with three holes to play. 

“Total up and down feelings today and definitely, like a low point, going 4-down,” Gibbs said. “I just couldn’t really get anything going. I didn’t really make any putts you know, and all of a sudden, I keep losing holes because Tommy’s really solid. But I had a couple of good shots and the turning point I guess was 13 or 14, somewhere around there was the turning point where I won three in a row.”

Sharp was 1-up heading to the last hole until Gibbs’ drive on 18 left him with a short wedge shot approach where he then made a birdie to force extra holes. Sharp’s downhill birdie chip attempt to win the hole missed.  

Starting the extra holes on the par 4 18th, both players bogeyed. Sharp’s four foot par putt from below the hole lipped out leaving both players and those watching in a bit of shock. 

Moving to Hubbard’s first hole for the 20th hole of the match, both players made a par. The 21st hole was tied with birdies and the 22nd and 23rd with pars. 

While the weather was growing more ominous, Gibbs got up and down from behind the green on the par 5 5th hole for a birdie to win the match. 

The Match Play Championship win is the first Utah PGA championship trophy for Gibbs who moved to Utah from New Mexico’s Sun Country Section a few years ago. While Gibbs has won the Sun Country Section Championship twice and its Stableford Championship, this is the first Match Play win of his career. 

Gibbs said, “Last year (his first at Bonneville), I was kind of just trying to figure out all the courses here, and a new job and other stuff. I played some good rounds and was competitive a little bit but you know, I didn’t have my best year last year. I’m looking forward to playing more this year, and at least knowing the majority of the courses now, I’m a little more confident. This is a good start to the season.”

Read more from the Utah PGA Match Play Championship in the June issue of PGA Monthly.

Click here for the complete Utah PGA Match Play bracket.

The difference between making an All-State team or not often comes down to 1 stroke or even 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 after that are selected to Honorable Mention.

The Utah Section of the PGA of America has been actively supporting high school golf for over 30 years. In 1996 they developed the Utah High School All-State Golf Program. 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 player’s best region scores and sixty-five percent of their state championship scores are used to rank each player. No arbitrary or influenced decisions, it’s all by the numbers. Your skills and scores earn you the recognition.

All First Team All-State players will be invited to the All-State Invitational tournament and Banquet at the end May. This is just one of many community-based programs that the PGA operates each year to benefit our Utah Golf Community. Congratulations to all of these players on a fantastic year in golf.

2022-2023 season All-State Teams lists are available here.

Monticello High School’s girls’ golf team took home its first state trophy Wednesday afternoon.

Monticello ended the day with a 396, beating second-place Manila by just twelve strokes. 

“Last year they were close and were a little disappointed, so they were driven this year,” said Shane Brewer, who shares coaching duties for the Buckaroos with Nathan Chamberlain.

“It’s been a rough, rough season with the winter and the snow that canceled a lot of the events we were meant to play. We were practicing in a basement for two months before we got on a course.”

Cambree Chamberlain led the way for Monticello, shooting a 98 and tying with Manila’s Sadee Davis for fourth place overall. 

Sisters Alise Lewis, a sophomore, and Amy Lewis, a senior, tied with Panguitch’s Adelaide Englestead for sixth place, with all of them carding 99 during Wednesday’s tournament. 

“It’s all been leading up to this point,” Alise Lewis said. “Coming into state we had a lot of high hopes, and I think it went as planned.”

Alise Lewis said she and her sister push each other in practice and on the course.

“Every tournament she beats me by just a little,” Alise Lewis said. “We just had a great time today.”

Ali Young was the fourth scoring player for Monticello, with a 100 and ninth-place finish individually.

Hard work and a good attitude kept the Monticello girls in contention, according to Brewer.  

“In spite of all the hardships, they just kept pushing and working and having a good attitude,” Brewer said. 

“I think 1A golf is kinda special because you get kids who start from zero and find their passion,” Brewer said. “If they put in the time, they’ll have some great experiences.”

Added Chamberlain: “It was emotional, up and down. There were good scores and bad scores, good days and bad days.

“We have several kids who play multiple sports. We have three track stars on the team who will get home tonight and take off tomorrow for state track. We get to see the kids grow and change and develop, and it’s neat to be a part of it.”

Pinnacle senior Avery Atwood was the top individual player of the day. She shot a 95 to earn the first-place medal.

Atwood’s day started with a seven on the first hole, and then a five on a par 3.

“I started off really bad,” said Atwood, who has been playing golf since she could swing a club, spending days with her dad and grandfather on the course, but has only played high school golf the last two years. 

As the day progressed, nerves calmed down and the shots straightened out. 

“In the last half I was able to par a lot more and get my score down,” Atwood said. “I’m just so proud of my team. Our golfers just don’t give up, no matter what the score is.”

Written by David Anderson for the Desert News. Republished with permission. Photos courtesy of Fairways Media/Randy Dodson.

For Altamont’s Dicein Taylor, the game of golf is about chasing that next great swing. 

Taylor earned the first-place medal at the 1A boys state golf tournament at Cove View Golf Course in Richfield Wednesday, where he shot a two-day total of 146.

He led his team to a second-place finish, with Valley taking the top spot.

“Both days I felt like I just couldn’t get the putter working,” Taylor said, although by the end of the tournament he had shot just one over par both days.

“I had a lot of good approach shots, but I feel I was trying to chase it too much and not letting the birdies come to me. Overall it was good. I’m happy with it.” 

It was Taylor’s final high school golf tournament. 

“It was fun,” Taylor said. “You see a good shot, and it makes you want to come back. It’s satisfying when you come in and see a good score on the board.”

Valley won the boys championship with a team score of 709 across both days of the 1A tournament, cutting nine strokes from its total Wednesday. 

“The season has been great,” said Valley coach Jeremy Chamberlain. “Region 20 golf has come a long way, and it was pretty tight this year. It pushed us to be better.”

Senior Cooper Chamberlain led the Buffaloes to the team win, finishing in fifth place individually with a two-day total of 160. 

“He’s been a top 10 finisher since he was a sophomore,” said Jeremy Chamberlain.

Ivan Spencer snagged 10th place in the individual rankings for the Buffaloes and Hunter Barrick shot his best round of the year for Valley Wednesday, earning him 19th place overall and a 185 two-day total. 

“It was nice to have the seniors lead out and the rest of us follow,” Chamberlain said. “We have a ton of support from our administration and community. We just want to continue the tradition.”

Wendover’s Avre Gomez finished second in the individual competition behind Taylor.

“I started off rough both days,” Gomez said. “I felt like I couldn’t get a single putt to fall yesterday. Then today, once I got my putts to start falling, I couldn’t hit my irons. … I just working with what I had.” 

Gomez was able to put together a 155 two-day total, leading Wendover along with teammate Trejin Tangaro, who nabbed a tie for third place with Rich’s Noah Parry. 

“Golf means a lot to me,” Gomez said. “When I find something I enjoy, I really put my best effort into it.” 

Written by David Anderson for the Desert News. Republished with permission. Photos courtesy of Utah PGA/Adri Summerhays and Fairways Media/Randy Dodson.

Neither the team nor the individual who were crowned 2A state champions on Tuesday arrived at Lakeside Golf Course on Tuesday with expectations of walking away with a state title. Their season averages suggested it wasn’t very likely.

As it turns out, both Beaver’s girls golf team and Draper APA freshman Natalie McLane defied those odds to claim their respective 2A titles.

Beaver shot 24 strokes better than its season average, firing a 381 team score on Tuesday to edge defending state champ Rowland Hall by two strokes. Rowland Hall finished with a 383, which was 19 strokes higher than its season average.

“I’m so proud of the girls, and how hard they’ve worked and how they focused. We just came in and thought, ‘We’re going to do our best because Rowland Hall has five seniors, and they’re so awesome, and we’re just going to go play and learn from them,’” said Beaver coach Marilee Eyre.

For McLane, she came into the one-day tournament with the second-best scoring average in 2A at 78.4, but the gap between her and reigning 2A medalist Arden Louchheim was a pretty big one. Louchheim had a 70.7 average in six matches this spring and is a Nebraska commit with a long resume of competing in big tournaments.

McLane knew firsthand how good Louchheim’s shotmaking was as they competed in the same region this year.

McLane never beat Louchheim in any of those region tournaments, but she got the better of her on Tuesday as she shot a 2-over 73 to edge Louchheim by one stroke. Rowland Hall’s Jasmine Le finished third with a 16-over 87.

McLane finished about four holes before Louchheim did, and when she was done she trailed by two strokes. Knowing how good the senior she was chasing was, McLane didn’t really consider the possibility that she still had a chance.

“I thought she’d beat me by a lot, so I wasn’t too stressed,” she said.

Louchheim, however, bogeyed three of the final four holes as her bid for a third-straight individual 2A title came up one stroke short.

“I was shocked, I was really shocked. My mom started crying too and my dad was cheering like crazy (when my mom called and told him),” said McLane.

McLane said the day before the state tournament she was “hozzling” a bunch of shots in a practice round and was genuinely worried it would carry over to the state tournament.

It kind of did too, with McLane double bogeying her No. 10 starting hole. On the next hole, she yanked her par 3 tee shot left into the rough. She chipped up and saved par, and said that sequence helped settle her down.

She proceeded to birdie the next hole and finished out her front nine in 2-over. She parred all nine holes on her back nine to post a number that was close enough to Louchheim to give her a chance.

Draper APA coach Allison Gow said she could see McLane settle down after that rough start, and said Tuesday showed what a bright future she has in golf.

“She is just an amazing kid and I think she’s got a phenomenal future ahead of her in golf,” said McLane.

For Beaver, its depth allowed it to capture its first state championship since 2019 and a going-away present for Eyre who is retiring from coaching golf after 22 years. She retired as a teacher at Beaver five years ago but kept coaching golf to finish up coaching her granddaughter in high school.

Her granddaughter, senior Tawni Eyre, was one of four Beaver golfers who finished in the top 10 at Lakeside Golf Course.

Taisley Marshall finished fifth with a 94, Heidi Harris finished sixth with a 95, and then Eyre and Sunnie Moon tied for seventh with 96s.

“It feels better than anything I can ever imagine. The girls have worked so hard this year,” said coach Eyre. “I feel like our top four girls were as focused as I’ve seen them.”

Written by James Edward for the Deseret News. Republished with permission. Photos courtesy of Fairways Media/Garrit Johnson.

A 2-under-par performance on the second day cushions Ellie Demond’s individual title and helps route Morgan High School to the state title. 

Morgan High School captured the 2023 3A Girls Golf State Championship with a (+66) 642 (322-320) performance in the 36-hole tournament held at Glendale Golf Course in Salt Lake City. The Trojans were led by individual title winner Ellie DeMond and second place medalist Jailee Snow. DeMond claimed the individual title with a 2-under-par 70 in the final round that comprised of six birdies and one eagle to finish at 2-under-par 142 (72-70) for the tournament. Snow finished the tournament at 7-over-par 151 (77-74) earning herself a second place spot on the leaderboard. 

Region 12 winners Richfield High School placed second after a 78-over-par 654 (329-325), 12 strokes behind the leader. The Wildcats had four top 10 medalists with Shelby Gardner and Abbee Albreccht tying for fourth at 162, 18-over-par for the tournament followed by Brielle Jolley who shot a 163 (82-81), 19-over-par, landing in sixth. Hallie Janes was the last metalist for her team and the tournament, metaling in tenth with a score of 172 (83-89), 28-over-par. 

Region 15 winner Juan Diego rounded out the top three teams after shooting a 666 (330-336), 90-over-par led by third place finisher Cabria Walters who finished the tournament at 10-over-par after shooting 154 (75-79). Grayson Gagnon placed seventh after a 166 (82-84) performance finishing at 22-over-par. 

Individually, only Brooklyn Brown and Makenna Bohman represented their schools in the top 10 individuals outside of the players on the top three teams. Brown represented Union High School metaling eighth with a 164 (84-84) performance finishing at 24-over-par and Bohman representing Grantsville shot a 26-over-par 166 (84-86), metaling ninth. 

Written by Joshua Green, Utah PGA intern. Photos courtesy of Fairways Media/Garrit Johnson