SALT LAKE CITY — Amateurs have done very well at the Salt Lake City Open in recent years, winning four of the last five titles against the top professionals in the state.
Once again, the amateurs are doing well as 11 of the 16 golfers who broke par in Saturday’s first round are from the amateur ranks.
Brady Stanger fired a 4-under-par 67 on Mountain Dell’s Lake Course to tie professionals Tommy Sharp and Joe Summerhays. A stroke back at 68 is Skyline High golfer Simon Kwon, while three amateurs, Mitchell Schow, Devin Tovey and Ty Anderson all came in at 69.
Nine golfers shot 70, including former State Amateur champions Dan Horner and Kelton Hirsch and Blake Tomlinson, who won the SLC Open in 2016 and won the Salt Lake City Amateur in June.
Ryan Rhees is the low senior professional, while Skyler Doran leads the amateur A Flight and Robert Johnson leads the B Flight.
Salt Lake City Open
(a- denotes amateur)
Mountain Dell Lake Course
67 — Tommy Sharp, Joe Summerhays, a-Brady Stanger
68 — a-Simon Kwon
69 — a-Mitchell Schow, a-Devin Tovey, a-Ty Anderson
70 — Matt Baird, Ryan Kartchner, Steele DeWald, a-Dan Horner, a-Jack Sargent, a-Kelton Hirsch, a-Blake Tomlinson, a-Elijah Turner, a-David Timmons
71 — Justin Keiley, a-Cooper Jones, a-Kurt Owen, a-Denny Job, a-Brock Stanger, a-Steven Croft
Senior professionals
66 — Ryan Rhees
70 — Henry White
73 — Chip Garriss, Rich Friend, Steve Schneiter
A Flight
67 — Skyler Doran
69 — Brett Hess
74 — Matthew Dean
B Flight
75 — Robert Johnson
76 — Calvin Merrell
77 — Joshua Johnson, David Mayes