At last week's U.S. Junior Amateur qualifying at Park City, Boyd Summerhays wore a black and orange Oklahoma State golf hat throughout his round.
For those who may not know, Oklahoma State has what is considered to be the best college golf program in the nation. This year, OSU won another NCAA title in a playoff with defending champion Stanford.So does it mean something that Summerhays, one of the top two 16-year-olds in the country, is wearing Oklahoma State gear?
Yes it does, says Summerhays. "I like the school very much," he said. Apparently the school likes him a lot too, along with a couple of hundred other colleges who would love to land the young phenom from Farmington.
However, Summerhays says he has already narrowed his college choices to three - Oklahoma State, Stanford and BYU.
He's keeping an open mind about the three schools and because he'll only be a junior next year, he still has until the fall of 1996 to sign an early letter of intent.
And if you think BYU, which already has Boyd's brother, David, would have a recruiting edge because of its proximity, think again.
BYU coach Bruce Brockbank is able to watch most of Boyd's tournaments locally, but he can't even speak to Boyd or his family members because of NCAA regulations.
HERE'S JOHNNY: Johnny Miller has been seen on TV a lot lately as the one of NBC's main analysts at the U.S. Open a couple of weeks ago and the U.S. Senior Open this weekend. In between the two, he stopped in Utah to play in the Great American Indian Shootout at Jeremy Ranch.
In discussing a number of subjects, Miller said announcing is not as easy as it looks and that it takes "a serious two weeks" of preparation.
Also in last week's Sports Illustrated, Miller is quoted as saying, "My confidence level in the booth is directly proportionate to the amount of time I spend studying the course. I do more of it than anyone else."
That's why Miller said it would be difficult for him to play the Senior Tour in two years and keep his announcing job.
"Those are not just a walk in the park," he said of his announcing gigs. "Those are serious commitments. Life could be easier."
However, he admits the U.S. Open is different from the regular PGA tournaments.
"It's not like the Honda Classic where I can show up Friday night or Saturday morning and say, "OK, I'm ready to go."
AM IN LOGAN: Another edition of the Men's State Amateur kicks off Wednesday at the Logan Golf and CC. It will mark the first visit to Logan for the state's top amateur golfers in nearly two decades, since the 1977 State Am was held there.
While 1977 will be remembered for Arlen Peacock's second State Am victory, it is also remembered because of the guy he beat convincingly in the finals - a young golfer from St. George named Jay Don Blake.
Blake was an 18-year-old who had just graduated from Dixie High School. After his success at Logan that summer, Blake accepted a scholarship to Utah State and three years later he made his first mark on the national scene, by winning the NCAA Tournament.
LONG DRIVE SUCCESS: Last week's State Long Drive Contest was a refreshing improvement over past long drive events when many of the contestants were out-of-state big hitters trying to earn their way into the national event.
Sure some of those guys would thrill the crowd with drives in the 400-yard range, but this year's crowd seemed genuinely excited to see the skills of a variety of Utah long drivers - teenagers, women, seniors - hitting long drives alongside the usual big hitters.
Many of the long drive champions from the past such as Gary Schneiter, Jeff Hoye and Rocky Bowlby still got to compete in the open division. By the way, the state's most famous long driver, Kurt Moore, has "retired" from long driving competition.
STRAY SHOTS: Matt Johnson leads the latest Governor's Cup list with 3,039.28 points, just ahead of Kim Thompson who has 2,874.28. Milan Swilor is third, followed by Ryan Rhees and Kury Reynolds . . . Salt Lake amateur Jim Jensen improved the second day, but his 82-77 wasn't good enough to survive the cut at the U.S. Senior Open . . . Stephanie Belnap and Terry Hansen teamed to win the Firecracker 2-Woman Best Ball last week . . . St. George's Larry Williams won the Art City Amateur at Hobble Creek, while Logan's Mark Davis won the Northern Utah Amateur at Logan CC last weekend.