It was difficult to determine which Liechty brother was more nervous Thursday when 18-year-old David Liechty’s Round of 16 match against stroke-play medalist Peter Kim in the 125th Utah State Amateur golf tournament reached the fifth extra hole, No. 5 at The Country Club in Salt Lake City.
That’s because 14-year-old Ryan Liechty was FaceTiming the match for their father, who was working downtown, and his cell phone was down to 2% battery. Fortunately, Ryan captured David’s approach shot to within 3 feet, the shot of the match, before he had to shut it off. So dad didn’t get to see the anticlimactic ending — Kim conceded the birdie putt after missing his 10-footer for par — but he did catch almost everything else.
“I would want my peers to still be playing, but yeah, if all the other Cougs are out I am good with representing them, for sure. I mean, even though I am done at BYU, I still want to represent the Cougs. I would love for a Cougar to win it at Salt Lake Country Club, for sure.” — Former BYU golfer Elijah Turner.
“Stressful,” is how David Liechty summed up the marathon match, after letting little brother text the final result on his phone to their anxious father.
“That’s a one-word answer,” David continued. “It was a lot of fun. PK is such a great player. But yeah, just a couple putts happened to go in, a couple chips that ended up good.”
Kim, a Skyline High product, has signed to play for BYU this fall, while Liechty — not quite as well known locally but accomplished in his own right — is bound for Utah Tech in St. George.
So call it a bit of an upset on a day in which defending champion Zac Jones, a rising junior at BYU, lost in the Round of 32 to Glenwild member Kenny Palmer. Also getting upset Thursday morning was University of Utah star Braxton Watts, who dropped a 2 and 1 match to Southern Utah golfer Leo Torres, who is from Las Vegas.
“It is really cool to see two good players go head-to-head,” said David Liechty, a Layton High product.
Liechty won the 36-hole Southern Utah Open last November and the Copper Rock Amateur this spring. He will face a former BYU golfer, Elijah Turner, in the quarterfinals Friday morning.
Turner, who has some eligibility remaining in Provo but has opted to join the working world as a financial advisor, knocked off teenager Parker Bunn 2 up in the Round of 32 Thursday morning and Zach Felts 6 and 5 Thursday afternoon.
“It feels great. It feels fantastic. Yeah, it feels good,” Turner said of advancing to the Elite Eight. “I got to the semis (in 2019), but lost to Preston Summerhays in the semifinals, the second year he won it.”
With Kim ousting BYU’s Keanu Akina 4 and 2 in the morning and 2022 champ Jones sent packing shortly thereafter, Turner is the lone BYU representative left in the tournament.
“I would want my peers to still be playing, but yeah, if all the other Cougs are out I am good with representing them, for sure,” Turner said. “I mean, even though I am done at BYU, I still want to represent the Cougs. I would love for a Cougar to win it at Salt Lake Country Club, for sure.”
A bit later Thursday, one former Ute eliminated another, as 2021 State Am champ Martin Leon of Chile (who is transferring to Rutgers) edged former Highland High star Oscar Maxfield, who spent four years in Utah’s program but transferred to Drexel in Philadelphia last year.
“It is a weird feeling, because Oscar was my teammate for two years. You guys would be surprised how hard he works. And playing with him today, you could see how talented he is,” said Leon, who won 1 up with a par on the 18th hole.
“I would have loved to not play him. I would have loved to see all University of Utah players in different matches,” Leon said.
“It was fun. I knew he is a great competitor. I knew I had probably a small advantage over him. I am a big competitor, too. I knew it was going to be tough and it required some really good shots and some clutch putts.”
Dormie after 16 holes, Maxfield eagled the par-5 17th hole, draining a 20-footer, to make things interesting and bring a smile to his former teammate’s face.
“I have played with him so much, so every time we made those long putts we made fun of each other,” Leon said. “… When he made that putt, I just started laughing. I said to him, ‘screw you, good putt, but screw you.’ Any other day, that would have been ‘great putt, man.’”
In another great Round of 16 match that went past 18 holes, Josh Howe defeated Brandon Robison in 22 holes. Howe had ousted air traffic controller David Jennings 2 and 1 in the morning, while Robison had eliminated 2022 City Am and City Open champ Justin Shluker.
The other quarterfinalists:
• 35-year-old Cameron Crawford, a former Utah Tech golfer who edged Utes golfer Tanner Telford, 1 up.
• Skyline High product Simon Kwon, the grandson of Hall of Famer Johnny Miller, who lost to Jones in the 36-hole final last year. Kwon played the last two seasons at Cal but is in the transfer portal.
• Former State Am champ Dan Horner (2008), a fixture on the local amateur golf scene.
• Kenny Palmer, who kept it going after upsetting Jones in the morning and downed Brendan Johnson 1 up in the afternoon.
Friday morning’s matchups: Liechty vs. Turner; Leon vs. Crawford; Howe vs. Kwon; Palmer vs. Horner.
Semifinal matches will also be held Friday, with two competitors advancing to Saturday’s 36-hole championship match.
125th Utah State Amateur
Thursday’s Round of 32 Results
Upper Bracket
Peter Kim def. Keanu Akina, 4 and 2
David Liechty def. Caysen Wright, 2 and 1
Elijah Turner def. Parker Bunn, 2 up
Zach Felts def. Jesper von Reedtz, 3 and 2
Oscar Maxfield def. Rand Sargent, 8 and 6
Martin Leon def. Sean Lampropoulos, 3 and 2
Cameron Crawford def. Andrew Cottle, 1 up
Tanner Telford def. Bowen Mauss, 3 and 1
Lower Bracket
Josh Howe def. David Jennings, 2 and 1
Brandon Robison def. Justin Shluker, 6 and 4
Simon Kwon def. Devin Tovey, 2 and 1
Leo Torres def. Braxton Watts, 2 and 1
Kenny Palmer def. Zac Jones, 3 and 1
Brendan Thomas def. Elliot Bond, 8 and 7
Peyton Hastings def. Ryker Dunkley, 3 and 2
Dan Horner def. Brigham Gibbs, 3 and 2
Thursday’s Round of 16 Results
Upper Bracket
David Liechty def. Peter Kim, 23 holes
Elijah Turner def. Zach Felts, 6 and 5
Martin Leon def. Oscar Maxfield, 1 up
Cameron Crawford def. Tanner Telford, 1 up
Lower Bracket
Josh Howe def. Brandon Robison, 22 holes
Simon Kwon def. Leo Torres, 4 and 3
Kenny Palmer def. Brendan Thomas, 1 up
Dan Horner def. Peyton Hastings, 3 and 2