PROVO — Brett Wayment put his new golf swing to the test this week and it passed — with flying red numbers.
The former Utah State Aggie and once regular on the Nike Tour, now called the Nationwide Tour, fired a final-round 7-under par 65 Saturday on the water-lined East Bay links to march past his rival as Utah's most-promising golfer to win the 64th Provo Open. Wayment won comfortably by four shots over Boyd Summerhays, who settled for a 1-under par 71 Saturday after shooting 64 and 66 in the first two rounds.
Wayment, with a three-round total of 19-under par, takes home a $10,000 first-place check.
"I haven't had an official win for a year or two, so it feels good to get back there," Wayment said. "It gives me a big boost going into the rest of the year."
After spending 1999 on the Nike Tour, Wayment's game went a bit south for a couple of years. Still, he's been one of the state's top golf talents and everyone knew he'd eventually get back to his former self. This spring he made some swing changes and it appears the adjustments have him going in the right direction.
"This week was all about going out and working on my swing and seeing how it held up under pressure," he said.
Starting the day two shots behind Summerhays, Wayment closed the gap early when he eagled the par-5 first hole, while Summerhays birdied. But following a bogey on the par-3 third Wayment fell back to trail by two. Summerhays, however, treaded water by parring holes No. 2 through No. 10.
Wayment caught the 23-year-old smooth swinger when he birdied both the sixth and seventh holes. He took his first lead when he finished the front nine with a birdie on the par-5 No. 9. He extended the lead to two when he birdied the par-4 No. 10.
"I managed to make a birdie or two when I was close," Wayment said.
It still seemed like Summerhays would get things going, but bogeys on two par 3s on the back side sank him. On No. 11 he missed the green left, putted from off the green to about eight feet and missed the par putt. On the same hole Wayment got up and down from the greenside bunker for par. On the 14th hole, Wayment's tee shot came up just off the green short while Summerhays had a 40-foot birdie putt. Wayment sank a curling eight-foot par putt and then watched Summerhays lip-out a 3-foot par putt. Wayment coasted from there.
After blistering East Bay for two days, Summerhays wasn't firing on all cylinders Saturday.
"I just never hit it close," Summerhays said. "The first two days I was two-putting the par 5s for birdies and today I didn't hit any of the par 5s in two."
Joseph Summerhays, Boyd's cousin and son of senior tour player Bruce Summerhays, was within striking distance of Wayment until he pushed his second shot on the par-5 13th into the water and bogeyed. He did manage one more birdie coming in to finish tied for third at 14-under par with Matt Johnson. Jon Wright finished alone in fifth at 13-under par.
Wayment and the two Summerhayses have similar plans mapped out for the remainder of the summer. All three hope to reach the PGA Tour by playing in a handful of Nationwide Tour events and a variety of mini-tour and state opens. Boyd's father Lynn summed up what lies ahead for all three when he turned to Joseph, his nephew, after Saturday's round and asked, "So, where's the next venture?"
One of the threats to challenge for the crown was done even before teeing off Saturday. Steve Schneiter shot 67 and 69 in the first two rounds, but a competitor noticed that Schneiter's score card from Friday's round, which was posted on the leader board, was unsigned. Schneiter was disqualified on the first tee.
East Bay's Kean Ridd finished the 54-hole event at 4-under par to edge Spanish Fork's Roy Christensen by two to take the senior crown. In the amateur competition, University of Utah's Luke Swilor and BYU's Jared Overton both finished at 11-under par, but Swilor won the first sudden-death hole with a par to take the title.
Provo Open final scores
197 — Brett Wayment
201 — Boyd Summerhays
202 — Joseph Summerhays, Matt Johnson
203 — Jon Wright
205 — Todd Tanner, Luke Swilor (a), Jared Overton (a)
208 — Nick McKinlay
209 — Mark Owens, Kim Thompson, Ben Portie, Brad Sutterfield
210 — Ryan Rhees, Jimmy Blair
211 — Milan Swilor, Scott Miller, Bruce Brockbank, Derek Squire (a)
212 — Kean Ridd, Chris Larsen (a), Clay Bingham (a)
213 — Brian Nosler, Jon Fister, Troy Watkins, Pat Murphy (a)
214 — Roy Christensen, Henry White, Randall McCracken, Randy Hicken (a)
E-mail: jimr@desnews.com