Next month's Men's State Amateur field is complete after the fifth regional qualifying tournament was contested Wednesday at Wasatch Mountain State Park Golf Course.
In what turned out to be perhaps the strongest overall region, a score of 74 was needed to qualify and 42 players from the south region progressed to play at Hobble Creek Golf Course July 10-14 in the Men's State Amateur finals.Long-hitting BYU golfer Will Huish led all qualifiers and won medalist honors with a 6-under-par 66, one stroke better than Ed Ingram and two better than Jay Auvigne. Huish started off hot with a 31 on the front side before coming in with a 35 on the back. The 66 was the lowest qualifying score of the five regions.
Former State Am runner-up Joseph Summerhays and Bill Probst both came in with 69s, while five players - David Bradford, Jim Jensen Corey Monson, Rick Groendyke and Beau Moody - all shot 70s.
Summerhays, the son of Senior Tour regular Bruce Summerhays, was one of three Summerhays brothers to make it. Older brother Bryan shot an even-par 72, while 18-year-old Bruce Jr., finished with a 73.
The cut nearly came at 73 because only the low 33 scores plus ties were eligible to go to the State Am finals. Thirty-two players shot 73 or better, but when no one else came in with that number, the 10 players at 74 were given a ticket to Hobble Creek.
Among the prominent players who didn't make it were BYU golfer Troy Lashley (76), Ron Hitchcock (79), Dana Nelson (75) and Jeff Kinney (80).
Hitchock, the current Utah Golf Association president will be especially missed at the State Am. Not only does he own one of the finest match play records of any golfer over the past two decades, his home course is Hobble Creek and he was instrumental in getting the tournament to be played there this year.
In all, some 160 players will tee it up July 10 and 11. From there, the low 32 players will begin match play and continue until a champion is crowned July 14.