SANDY — It was all about having fun and raising money for a good cause Monday in the annual charity golf scramble pitting a team led by BYU coach Kalani Sitake against a team led by Utah coach Kyle Whittingham.
Smiles and laughter abounded at Hidden Valley Country Club, as did tales of good and bad play, near holes-in-one, and outright awful shots.
Come Nov. 9, that all changes, as the Cougars and Utes — now in the Big 12 together — meet on the gridiron for the first time since 2021.
“It is right around the corner,” Sitake noted. “I love it.”
But on Monday in the Coaches Legacy Invitational — which used to be known as the Rivalry for Charity — that football showdown more than three years in the making was seemingly forgotten in the event benefitting the National Kidney Foundation of Utah and Idaho.
Trash talk, except for some mild stuff from master of ceremonies Scott Mitchell, the former Utah quarterback, was kept at a minimum.
Deen Vetterli, CEO of the local franchise, said around $50,000 was raised “in the premier golf event for charity in the state of Utah” so kidney patients were the biggest winners.
For the record, BYU’s Sitake-led team edged Utah’s Whittingham-led team by a stroke, shooting a 14-under 58.
Sitake had current BYU golfer Zac Jones, former BYU quarterback Robbie Bosco and Rob Brough of Zions Bank. Whittingham’s team consisted of former State Am champion Dan Horner and Utah boosters Rich and Brandon Elggren.
In earlier years of the event that was first played in 1989 and pitted LaVell Edwards and his quarterback, Ty Detmer, against Jim Fassel and his QB, the aforementioned Mitchell, the losing coach had to sing the winning coach’s fight song. So those matches were more fiercely contested. Now, the coaches’ competition is mostly an afterthought.
Only bragging rights are on the line, although Sitake freely admits that Whittingham is a “much better” golfer than he is.
“It is just for fun now, and honestly, (with) the teams that we (put together), I just want to see how these guys golf,” Sitake said. “The last four years have been college golfers from BYU on my team. And it has just been really cool watching them play. I am shocked how good they are, calling their shots and things like that.”
Jones, who will be a senior at BYU this fall, pulled off a 371-yard drive to win the longest drive competition. Stephanie Palmer hit the longest drive for a female contestant.
“It always helps having a player like Zac,” Sitake said. “We have had some really good golfers. Robbie (Bosco) wasn’t bad, either. And Rob (Brough) is a good golfer, so they made up the difference for me.
“We had a lot of fun and that is what it is all about. I had a really good time.”
Sitake sees the event as an excellent opportunity to give back to the community and support a cause near and dear to his heart, and Whittingham agrees.
“It is for a great cause, and that’s the key,” Whittingham said. “It has got value and it serves a purpose for the Kidney Foundation, which is awesome.”
Neither coach wants the event to end because they are carrying on a legacy in which Ron McBride, Urban Meyer, Edwards, Fassel, Gary Crowton and Bronco Mendenhall participated.
“I am just really honored to be here, more than anything, and just thankful that I have the opportunity to come play golf and just be in this position,” Sitake said. “Being the head football coach at BYU has been an amazing journey for me and I don’t take it for granted. I appreciate the opportunity to be here, be around these people. That makes it all worth it. I am living a dream and am appreciating every step of the way.”
While the competitive aspect of the event got a little awkward when Mendenhall and Whittingham, who were not close friends, by any stretch of the imagination, squared off, it is now more about honoring the coaches that went before them, such as Edwards.
“Yeah, Kalani is my guy,” Whittingham said. “We are the closest of friends, and that will never change — hopefully.”
Vetterli, who came up with the idea for the format in 1989, along with longstanding volunteer president Dave Trimble, said the “humanitarianism and sportsmanship of the coaches” is what makes it work, year after year.
“We are so grateful for the coaches,” she said. “We have affiliates all over the country calling and asking how we do it. It’s the coaches. They make it work.”
Utah vs. BYU wasn’t the only competition taking place Monday.
The competition among the seven “qualified” teams that met the combined handicap requirement of 43 or higher and couldn’t have more than one golfer with a handicap of eight or lower produced a four-way tie for first place. Each team shot an 11-under 61.
A “scorecard playoff” was held and the team of Vaughn Pulsipher, Brandon Pulsipher, Mark Meadows and BYU deputy AD Brian Santiago emerged victorious and earned the right to represent the state in the NKF national tournament at Whistling Straits Golf Course in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, next May.
Second place went to the Liberty Homes-sponsored team of Dave Clark, Sean Clark, Jeremy Clark and Scott Clark. Third place went to Dan Hansgen, Jasmine Hansgen, John Hansgen and Quint Chipman. Fourth place went to Larry Lawrence, Landon Lawrence, David Bradford and Kirt Kimball.
Of the non-qualifying teams, which were not bound by handicap restrictions, the best score was 54 — turned in by the team of Ian Hall, Jim Hamlin and BYU golfers Simon Kwon and Brock Goyen. Kwon also won the closest-to-the-pin contest with a shot that was 6 feet out on the par-3 second hole on the Lakes nine.