At 49 years old, Utah teaching pro Joe Summerhays probably doesn’t have the length or the PGA Tour experience needed to contend this week in the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Golf Resort’s Ocean Course in South Carolina, but he will gladly settle for the next best thing.
“I’m hoping to be that lucky charm for Tony Finau, just like I was for my cousin Danny (Summerhays) at Baltusrol in 2016,” Summerhays told the Deseret News on Monday after his second practice round at the seaside course on the East Coast.
Now retired, Daniel Summerhays took third that year, his best finish ever in a major championship.
“Whenever I am in the PGA, we get somebody (from Utah) to play well,” Joe Summerhays said. “Hopefully, I play well, make the cut, and then watch Tony win it.”
The 103rd playing of the PGA Championship begins Thursday; Finau is paired with Matt Fitzpatrick of England and Corey Conners of Canada the first two rounds and will tee off at 11:05 a.m. MDT Thursday on the No. 1 tee and at 5:38 a.m. MDT Friday on the No. 10 tee.
Summerhays will play with Richy Werenski of the U.S. and Sami Valimaki of Finland, teeing off at 10:36 a.m. MDT Thursday on No. 10 and 5:11 a.m. MDT Friday on No. 1.
“When I am in the PGA, we get somebody (from Utah) to play well. Hopefully, I play well, make the cut, and then watch Tony (Finau) win it.” — Utah teaching pro Joe Summerhays
Summerhays, who lives in Syracuse and is the director of golf instruction at Eagle Lake Golf Course in Roy and a part-time instructor at Oakridge Country Club in Farmington, qualified to play in his second PGA Championship with a top-20 finish in the PGA Professional Championship in Port St. Lucie, Florida, last month.
Summerhays shot 70-70-74-73 to finish in a nine-way tie for eighth place and kept alive Utah’s streak of sending club pros to the PGA Championship. Other Utahns who have made it in past years include Zach Johnson in 2018 and 2020, Craig Hocknull in 2018 and 2019, Chris Moody in 2017, Summerhays and Steve Sharp in 2016 and Steve Schneiter and Dustin Volk in 2014.
“Utah produces more than its share of great golfers,” said Summerhays, who is the cousin of Finau’s coach, Boyd Summerhays.
Finau, the West High graduate and Salt Lake City native who now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, is No. 14 in the Official World Golf Rankings and is viewed as a favorite in one of golf’s four major championships due to his prodigious length. The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island is known for being wide open and long — at 7,876 yards, it will be the longest course in major championship history, although Summerhays doesn’t believe it will be set up at the tips any of the four days because expected windy conditions would make it impossible to play at that length.
Summerhays played a practice round with Finau on Monday. Joe’s sons caddied for him, and he will have 14 to 15 family members in attendance this week at Kiawah Island among the limited crowd of 10,000 or so, due to COVID-19 precautions.
“Tony is playing really good, really solid,” Joe Summerhays said. “I really like this course for him. It is good for him. Long hitters should do well, and we all know Tony is as long as anyone, if he wants to be. I like his chances.”
After the Monday practice round — Joe Summerhays said he played better in his first practice round over the weekend than in his second — the 2020 Player of the Year in the Utah Section PGA who will attempt to qualify later this year for membership on the PGA Tour Champions circuit said playing alongside Finau was already an unforgettable experience.
“It was cool to see one of the best players in the world play today,” he said. “It is a different level. I mean, it was so good. It was really, really fun to watch.”
Joe Summerhays’ father, Bruce, was also a longtime club pro in Utah before qualifying for what is commonly known as the senior tour and winning three times on that circuit for players 50 and over.
Bearded and with a more folksy talking style than his father, Joe Summerhays hopes to use what he learned in 2016 at Baltusrol to help him play more comfortably in South Carolina. He shot 76-73 (+9) and missed the 36-hole cut by seven shots.
“I will try to enjoy it a little bit more and not get so (up tight) about it, just relax a little more,” he said. “At Baltusrol, the stage was so big. There were so many people watching you, even in your practice rounds and stuff. I wasn’t used to that, so it was an uncomfortable feeling for me.”
“Yeah, I could make the cut, but I will have to be on my game, make a lot of putts and just strike the ball well.” — Joe Summerhays
Having played a couple practice rounds on the Ocean Course, Summerhays thinks he can make the cut, which is a more-than-reasonable goal for a 49-year-old who doesn’t play competitive golf on a weekly basis.
“All that emotional stuff aside, you have to play really well here,” he said. “You can’t fake it around here. If you are on your game, you have a chance. If you don’t then you are going home early.”
Summerhays wants to “soak it all up” this year, knowing it could be his last chance to play in a PGA Tour event, let alone a major. That’s why he played 27 holes on Monday.
“I kinda lost my driver a little bit (Monday),” he said. “I had been hitting it good for month, so that was kind of surprising. But it will probably come back. … Yeah, I could make the cut, but I will have to be on my game, make a lot of putts and just strike the ball well.”
As for Finau, who hasn’t been playing well as of late after finishing in a tie for 10th at the Masters in early April, he said in his official PGA Championship interview Tuesday with the assembled media at Kiawah Island that he’s got the confidence needed to play well in majors.
“Tiger (Woods) referred to (majors) as the four weeks that matter to him,” Finau said. “A lot of the top players in the world feel the same. As my career has evolved through the years, I am starting to feel the same. The major championships are the threshold of golf and I am happy that I have showed up for most of them, even though I haven’t won one yet.”
This time, he might have a good luck charm to get him over the hump.