Who knew Utah was a hotbed for golfers. Did you see the results of last week’s Byron Nelson Classic?
Three Utahns placed in the top 16 — all of them rookies.
The last time that happened in a PGA Tour event was, well, never.
For the record, let’s define “Utahns” as those born and raised in the state, differentiating them from those who merely went to college in the state.
Last weekend was likely the greatest Utah showing ever in a PGA Tour event. Scott Pinckney tied for second, Tony Finau tied for 10th and Zac Blair tied for 16th. Their combined prize money: $790,466.66. If Daniel Summerhays had entered the tournament, it might have been an even better day for their home state.
Any way you cut it, Utahns are making their mark on the Tour this season. This is how they rank on the money list:
59. Finau, $1,142,795.
61. Pinckney, $1,108,060.
84. Summerhays, $774,224.
85. Blair, $772,321.
That’s $3.8 million.
In the FedEx Cup standings, Finau is 55th, Pinckney 64th, Summerhays 69th and Blair 74th.
Among the Tour’s 24 rookies, Finau ranks fourth, Pinckney fifth and Blair seventh, according to PGA.com. None is older than 26.
This isn’t supposed to happen. In the sports world, this is what Utah produces:
World-class skiers.
The occasional top-20 football team.
College football coaches.
Distance runners.
The occasional top-20 basketball team.
Rodeo champions.
What Utah doesn’t produce:
Surfers.
World-class golfers.
For one thing, Utah’s golf season lasts about six months. Also, the state ranks 33rd among the 50 states in population.
What are the odds Utah would produce four golfers who rank among the best in the world?
Utah has never had it so good.
Finau’s rise in the golf world is even more unlikely than Utah’s. Now 25, he is the first Polynesian ever to play on the PGA Tour. After graduating from West High, he turned down basketball scholarships and went straight to professional golf. At 6-foot-4, 200 pounds, he ranks second on the Tour in driving distance. This season he has three top-10 finishes and nine top-25 finishes.
The 26-year-old Pinckney, who was raised in Orem and then moved to Arizona at 12, has three top-10 finishes this season and five top-25 finishes.
Blair, the 24-year-old son of former Tour player Jimmy Blair, graduated from Fremont High and BYU. This season he has seven top-25 finishes, including one top-10 placement.
Summerhays, 31, a graduate of Davis High and BYU, has four top-25 finishes, including two in the top 10. He is the nephew of former Tour player Bruce Summerhays and the brother of Boyd, who also had a taste of the PGA Tour.
This is unprecedented. In the last 30 years, you could name on one hand the number of born-and-raised Utahns who have succeeded on the PGA Tour, or even earned a card (yes, BYU has produced a number of Tour players, but not many who were from Utah).
Jay Don Blake, by way of Dixie High and Utah State, is the most successful Utahn on the PGA Tour. After joining the Tour in 1987, he played in 498 events, collecting 36 top-10 finishes, 123 top-25 finishes and $5.5 million.
No other Utahn has come close to matching Blake’s Tour career.
Jimmy Blair, a Logan High/BYU grad, played on the PGA Tour in 1984. He entered 13 events and survived two cuts.
Boyd Summerhays, a former Davis High star, played in 29 events in 2009 and 2010 but made only three cuts, earning $58,000. He was hampered by injuries during his three years on the Tour.
Brad Sutterfield, a Brighton High/ BYU product, spent one year on the Tour, although he qualified to play in a total of 21 events from 1996 to 2006. He made four cuts and earned about $18,000.
Utah’s greatest golfer ever is George Von Elm, but much of his success predated the PGA Tour, which began in 1929 and continued to be overshadowed by amateur golf for years thereafter. Von Elm, the quarterback of the West High football team, was one of the great golfers of his day. He had legendary duels with the great Bobby Jones — he beat Jones to win the 1926 U.S. Amateur Championship. On the PGA Tour, he had five wins and finished second five times, third five times and collected 37 top-10 finishes.
For the most part, that’s the meager history of Utahns on the national golf scene, but maybe that will change with the presence of Finau, Summerhays, Blair and Pinckney.
Doug Robinson's columns run on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Email: drob@deseretnews.com