It’s been awhile since any local golfers have played in the Open Championship, aka the British Open, but this year both Daniel Summerhays and Tony Finau will be teeing it up at Royal Troon GC on the west coast of Scotland, starting Thursday.
Both Finau and Summerhays got into the tournament late. Finau took the last of 11 Open places available off the world rankings at the end of June, while Summerhays got in thanks to the withdrawals of four golfers, including Tiger Woods and former champion Stewart Cink.
Finau, a native of Salt Lake City, won his first PGA Tour event earlier this year at the Puerto Rico Open where he won in a playoff over Steve Marino. He ranks 41st in the FedEx Cup standings this year.
Summerhays, who hails from Farmington, had his best finish ever in a major last month when he finished eighth at the U.S. Open. He is 51st in the FedEx Cup standings.
Finau tees off at 11:47 a.m. local time (4:47 a.m. MDT) in a group with England’s David Howell and Korea’s Seung Yui Noh. Summerhays tees off in one of the later groups of the day at 3:54 p.m. local time (8:54 a.m. MDT) and will play with England’s Paul Howard and American Colt Knost.
Earlier this week Finau tweeted out, “Excited for my first Open. Troon is a special place. Look forward to a fun week.”
Boyd Summerhays, who coaches both golfers, isn’t with them this week as he opted to stay home and caddy for his son, Preston, at the Utah State Amateur. He said both players are playing well right now and could make their mark this week at Troon. He pointed out that Finau's win earlier this year came in windy conditions, similar to what might be present at Troon this week.
The last golfer with Utah connections to play in the British Open was former BYU golfer Mike Weir, who missed the cut at the 2010 Open.