Last year, a score of 68 in the Monday qualifying was good enough to get into the Buy.com Utah Classic.
This year? A 68 wasn't even close.
Fourteen golfers who shot 66 or better Monday at Wingpointe Golf Course qualified for the main event later this week at Willow Creek Country Club. The $425,000 tournament will be played Thursday through Sunday with $76,500 going to the winner.
Actually, 15 players shot 66 or better Monday. However, Todd Tanner, a former Utah State golfer who is an assistant pro at South Mountain Golf Course, just missed getting back to the golf course in time for a 7:15 p.m. playoff Monday evening, featuring nine players going for eight spots. When Tanner didn't show in time, the playoff was suspended and the other eight players were declared in the tournament.
Leading the way Monday with 8-under-par 64s were a couple of golfers who played briefly on the PGA Tour, Brad Sutterfield and Aaron Bengoechea.
Sutterfield is a former Utah State Amateur champion and BYU golfer who earned his PGA Tour card during the 1997 season. Bengoechea played at the University of Pacific and earned his card for the 2000 season, but like Sutterfield, he didn't do well enough to stay out on the Tour.
Both players would like to get another crack at the PGA Tour, but for now they're content to work their way back up though the Buy.com Tour. The 32-year-old Sutterfield is running out of years, but he'd like at least one more chance.
"I'd like one more year to try it again," he said. "I'd like to do it again and see if I can do it better."
In Monday's round, Sutterfield found himself at 4-under-par in a hurry after making birdies at 5 and 8 sandwiched around an eagle at No. 7. He added four birdies on the back side without a bogey to post his 64.
Last year, Sutterfield was one of the golfers who shot 68 and had to play off to get into the main tournament. He's amazed at how the competition keeps improving.
"It's unbelievable — the players are getting so good," he said. "They don't worry about a score, they just go out and try to make as many birdies as possible."
Four golfers shot 65, including three Californians — Fred Sutton, Doug Garwood and Rick Garboski — and John Connelly of Toledo, Ohio. Among the golfers at 66 were Willow Creek teaching pro Randall McCracken, Kevin Pappas, Steve Jurgensen, Rob Rashell, Tyler Brown, Jim Park, Brandon Bair and Dong Yi.
The saddest story belonged to Tanner, who shot his 66 in the morning and went back to his new job at South Mountain. He kept in touch by phone to see if he'd make it and it looked like he had until Connelly and Yi finished with their low numbers in the final two groups of the day.
Farmington's Boyd Summerhays, making his professional debut, didn't come close to qualifying, finishing with a 1-under-par 71.
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