When the 125th Utah State Amateur golf tournament began last Monday, a lot of people predicted a University of Utah golfer would take home the championship medal and put his name on the big silver trophy because this year’s historic venue — The Country Club — is the Utes’ home course and plenty of current and former Utes were in the 156-player field.
Instead, the champion turned out to be another (former) Pac-12 golfer who is not a member of TCC but was playing in his own backyard.
Literally.
“I mean, every time I would get down, or lose a hole, I would just remember the feeling of losing last year. I really do not like losing. That feeling is the worst thing ever. So it motivated me throughout this last entire year. I really think I worked my way to win this thing.” — State Amateur champion Simon Kwon.
Former Cal-Berkeley golfer Simon Kwon, who is in the NCAA transfer portal with two seasons of eligibility remaining, lives just east of the No. 8 fairway, a couple homes away from the No. 8 green.
The 20-year-old Skyline High product downed recent Layton High graduate David Liechty 6 and 5 in Saturday’s 36-hole championship match to make amends for last year’s final-match loss to BYU golfer Zac Jones.
“It is a little better feeling than last year, that’s for sure,” said Kwon, who is the grandson of Hall of Fame golfer and television analyst Johnny Miller, who is an honorary member of The Country Club and still has his name on one of the lockers in the clubhouse. “I am really grateful right now for how this week went.”
Kwon closed out the match with a par to match Liechty’s par on the No. 13 green, the farthest point from the clubhouse on the course. Recent State Am tradition dictates that the trophy ceremony take place on the green where the championship match was won, so Kwon accepted the gold medal and Liechty the runner-up medal as traffic zoomed by on nearby Interstate 80.
No matter. The sweet-swinging collegian happily recalled what drove him to take it all this year, after a somewhat shaky start. Kwon was 9 over through eight holes last Monday in the first round of stroke-play qualifying and in danger of not making match play before shooting 2 under on the back nine and then carding a 68 Tuesday to get the No. 7 seed.
He downed Ryan Bromley, Devin Tovey, Leo Torres, Josh Howe, Dan Horner and Liechty en route to the title.
“I mean, every time I would get down, or lose a hole, I would just remember the feeling of losing last year. I really do not like losing. That feeling is the worst thing ever,” Kwon said of last year’s second-place finish at Soldier Hollow. “So it motivated me throughout this last entire year. I really think I worked my way to win this thing.”
Liechty, who has signed to play golf for Utah Tech but will do a service mission (while living at home in Layton) starting Monday for two years for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, birdied the second hole in the morning 18 to grab a quick lead, but that was as good as it got for the late-blooming teenager.
Kwon led by five holes through 15 and was 4-up when the golfers took a break for lunch. Liechty got within two holes with a birdie on No. 4, but Kwon would win the next four holes and cruised from there.
“It was a good week. Like I said, my goal was to make it to match play and see how far I could go. I am definitely happy with how far I made it,” Liechty said. “Would have liked to have taken it a little farther, but yeah, second is not too bad.”
The highlight of Liechty’s week was downing medalist Peter Kim — Kwon’s former teammate on one of those powerful Skyline teams — in 23 holes on Thursday.
“It just shows that I can play against these guys, and I can beat a couple people,” Liechty said. “Hopefully I can win it in the next couple of years.”
Liechty said he will be working in the temple, doing work for the church’s FamilySearch website, and some chores at church headquarters in Salt Lake City. He will be able to play in the U.S. Amateur qualifying and the Junior America’s Cup later this summer.
As for Kwon, he’s going to take a few days off from golf and marinate in the joy of victory, a sharp contrast to last year’s bitter defeat.
“Every day when I wake up, the first thing I see is the Salt Lake Country Club,” he said. “It is just right in my (bedroom) window. I probably shouldn’t have done this, but I snuck on when I was like, 6, to play a hole every once in a while.
“It truly makes it more special to have all my friends and family out here taking time out to come and watch me play,” he continued.
Kwon’s father, Johnny, who is a Korean-American, was his caddie. His mother, Casi, who is Johnny Miller’s sister, walked along and offered encouragement. BYU director of golf Todd Miller — Simon’s uncle — was in attendance, along with BYU men’s golf coach Bruce Brockbank.
“Honestly, I don’t know what to feel yet. I mean, I am a little tired. I think it will sink in in a little bit. But seeing my parents and how they are reacting, and everyone else, and seeing all these people here, I am grateful for this experience,” Simon Kwon said.
So now the young Kwon has a decision to make. Where will he continue his college golf career? He said last week that he has plenty of offers, inside the state of Utah and out. He said Saturday that he will finalize his decision “probably (at the) end of next week.”