PROVO — Eddie Olson was so excited, so pumped up to play in this weekend’s Siegfried & Jensen Utah Open at Riverside Country Club, but halfway through his first round Friday he found himself headed for the emergency room.
Olson, the tournament’s first-day leader a year ago, is a former UNLV golfer who lives in Santa Cruz, California. He fired a six-under par 66 in Thursday’s afternoon pro-am and couldn’t praise the tournament, course, the people and scenery enough. He was amped for everything to tee off Friday morning.
“It isn’t just the money ($20,000 first prize), it is this golf course, which I love everything about it. I usually hate playing in pro-ams, but playing in the Utah Open pro-ams is always fun and a highlight of my week. I love the guys I’m paired with and it’s a lot of fun.”
By mid-morning Friday, Olson was battling. Really battling a nightmare of an opening day.
“Dude, I’m sick, I’m really sick this morning,” he told the event’s media relations director Randy Dodson, whom he played with in the pro-am the day before.
Then Olson teed off despite feeling like he’d been run over by a tractor.
“He didn’t want to quit and lose all he’d been working for. But we needed to find out what was up.” — Utah’s PGA Section executive Devin Dehlin, on Eddie Olson
In this grinding business as a golf professional, it can be a war to try to punch a ticket to an event or tour or even cash a check, as the job demands that one get back entry fees and earn money for travel and lodging.
Olson didn’t want to quit Friday. But after firing 3-over-par through his first nine holes, it was evident something was wrong. “He would bend over and make a stroke, then go back to bending over,” said Utah’s PGA Section executive Devin Dehlin. Olson had a pain in his stomach area, which some thought might have been a gallstone attack.
“He didn’t want to quit and lose all he’d been working for. But we needed to find out what was up,” said Dehlin.
Former Riverside head pro Robert McArthur took Olson to the emergency room at the turn. It was a merciful mission of discovery.
And kind of sad.
Competitors want to compete. In golf, it is everything.
Dehlin told Olson he’d work on getting his entry fee back if he had to quit. Olson’s health was more important. “You just feel for these guys. These opportunities mean everything and so does cashing a paycheck.”
Olson joined former PGA Tour pro BJ Staten in the final groupings two years ago when BYU senior Patrick Fishburn won in a dazzling display of power golf and playmaking, besting the field going away by almost driving the final hole.
“He was amazing that day,” said Olson. “But I didn’t care how good he played because he was an amateur,” he added, laughing.
Riverside Country Club’s pact to host the Utah Open ends in three years with an option for two more and Dehlin says players have raved about the conditions. “They’re not used to playing on golf courses this nice. And Riverside has treated us so well.”
Staten agrees.
A Texas transplant to Utah, Staten is used to playing on both the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour and elected to settle down in Utah with his wife Alisha, who he met at the Utah Open Championship at Willow Creek Country Club almost a decade ago.
Now working at Red Ledges Golf Club in Heber Valley, Staten is a former Utah Open winner who relishes competing in the event.
“Riverside is a wonderful golf course, it’s a fantastic course that I would enjoy playing every day. You can never really get sick of playing it,” said Staten.
“After my last surgery ... I was in second to the last group that year Patrick Fishburn won by about eight or nine strokes. But being in contention is wonderful, especially now I call Utah home.”
Staten won this year’s U.S. Open qualifying at Riverside this past year, so it puts a good taste in his mouth heading into this week’s event. “I’ll have to be on top of my game to have a chance to win come Sunday.”
Staten has Red Ledges director of golf Jon Paupore to thank for a landing spot as a member of the Utah Section. It is his job to represent the course in competitive play, mingle with members and play club matches and even teach. He has fired a bogey-free 64 at the very challenging Red Ledges layout and is always atop the staff’s match play challenges.
This year’s field will feature some names from the past, former Cougars Keith Clearwater and Dean Wilson, in addition to Riverside head pro Chris Moody, who had six straight birdies in Thursday’s afternoon pro am playing with the Riverside board members.
Fishburn is absent. He is battling for a crucial paycheck on the Mackenzie Tour that could vault him into the top five and win a place on the Korn Ferry Tour next year.
Defending champion Dusty Fielding of St. George returns, as do recent Utah Open champions Clay Ogden, Zach Johnson, Staten and Zahkai Brown.
The 54-hole tournament concludes Sunday.