JEREMY RANCH — Even before Preston Summerhays decided not to play in this week’s Utah Men’s State Amateur, golfers were talking about it being a wide-open affair. Now that Summerhays will be playing in Florida this week, it should be very wide open.
Summerhays, the two-time defending champion, had a chance to become the first golfer since Ed Kingsley in 1934 to win three straight Utah Amateur titles after winning at Oakridge Country Club in 2018 and at Soldier Hollow last year.
Instead he has opted to play in an American Junior Golf Association event in Ponte Vedra, Florida, that was recently added to the schedule. Summerhays, who turned 18 in July, is already one of the top amateurs in the country, having won the U.S. Junior Amateur last summer and the Sunnehanna Amateur this summer.
According to his father, Boyd Summerhays, the Junior Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, where the PGA Tour Players Championship is held each year, will provide important world ranking points. Because Preston Summerhays is trying to make the U.S. Walker Cup team, those points are vital to his chances. Ten top amateurs from the United States will compete in the biennial matches next May in Florida against Great Britain. Summerhays plans to play for Arizona State after his senior year of high school in Arizona.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the field for the annual State Amateur has been cut in half with 144 golfers competing to grab 32 match play spots. The tournament, which was originally scheduled for late June, begins Tuesday at the Jeremy Ranch Country Club with two days of medal play, followed by match play, which begins Thursday and runs through Saturday when two golfers will compete in a 36-hole final.
“We haven’t been up here in 16 years so it’s nice to be back. It’s a fun course for match play. I think it’s open for anyone who plays well.” — Dan Horner, on playing the 2020 Utah State Amateur at Jeremy Ranch Country Club
There are a slew of contenders for this year’s tournament with as many as two dozen golfers who have legitimate chances to win.
Start with two former champions who are playing well right now.
Kelton Hirsch, who won in 2017, finished in a tie for third overall at last month’s Utah Open, after losing in a playoff a year earlier. He just completed his senior year at BYU.
Jon Wright, who turned 50 last month, won the Men’s Senior State Amateur last week, winning five matches on his way to the title. He won in 2012 and 2014 and would become the oldest State Am champion if he were to win this week.
“I think Jeremy is a great venue for the tournament,” Wright said. “In some ways it nullifies some of the distance advantage these younger players have. With fewer players is will be a throwback to how it used to be and should be wide open.”
Other former champions playing this week are Cole Ogden, Dan Horner, Darrin Overson, Nick Nelson, Steve Borget and Clark Rustand, who won in 2004, the last time the State Am was played at Jeremy Ranch.
“We haven’t been up here in 16 years so it’s nice to be back,” said Horner, the 2008 champion. “It’s a fun course for match play. I think it’s open for anyone who plays well.”
Chase Lansford, last year’s runner-up, is back along with Kirk SIddens and Carl Jensen, who have also been runner-ups in the State Am.
With no college golf being played by most colleges this fall, a bunch of collegiate golfers are in the field this week.
University of Utah players include Blake Tomlinson, Mitchell Schow, Colton Tanner and Tristan Mandur along with recent graduates Steve Croft and Peyton Hastings. Among the BYU golfers are Cole Ponich, Elijah Turner, Spencer Dunaway, Brock Stanger and Brock Goyen. Also in the field are Utah State’s Andy Hess and Cameron Tucker, Weber State’s Boston Watts and Hunter Howe, Southern Utah’s Jake Vincent and Ali Hameed and Dixie State’s Brock Nielsen and Davis Heslington.
The top high school player in the tournament is Skyline senior Tyson Shelley, who finished second at the Salt Lake City Amateur, and he’ll be joined by teammate Simon Kwon, who was third at the Salt Lake City Open last month.
Other top amateurs include Mid-Amateur champion David Jennings, Utah Open low amateur Hayden Christensen, Nick Killpack, Ryan Brimley, Kurt Owen, Ryan Barber, Denny Job, Derek Penman and John Owen.
Alpine’s Kihei Akina is the youngest player in the field at age 14, while Bountiful’s Steve Poulson is the oldest at age 64.