OGDEN — Regardless of what happens in Saturday’s 36-hole championship match at the 126th Utah State Amateur, a BYU golfer will claim the most prestigious amateur golf title in the state again this year.
Former Lone Peak High star Cooper Jones, who just completed his freshman season at BYU, will face former Davis High standout Cole Ponich, who has one year of eligibility remaining in Provo.
The match will begin at 7 a.m. at Ogden Golf & Country Club.
“Yeah, it will be fun,” said Jones, 20, who will depart on a two-year mission to Peru for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in mid-September.
“I have always been cheering for my fellow Cougs. It is good to have a Cougar win it and that’s locked up already.”
Said Ponich, who redshirted this spring to let a back injury heal after playing for coach Bruce Brockbank last fall in Provo: “It is awesome. We know we are going to have a good team going into this year.
“Tyson (Shelley) back from redshirt, Simon (Kwon) back from redshirt, and then obviously still Zac (Jones) and Peter (Kim). It is just good to see we are still rolling in the summer, and then we will try to carry it over to the college season.”
According to Utah golf historian Kurt Kragthorpe, it will be the first time two current BYU teammates who are Utah junior golf products will meet in the championship match of the longest continuously held golf tournament in the world.
In 1980, Cougars Erich Gott and Jerry Rose clashed in the finals, but both were from out of state.
The last time the State Am was played at Ogden G&CC (2017), BYU golfer Kelton Hirsch took the title.
BYU’s Zac Jones — Cooper’s older brother — won at Soldier Hollow in 2022 to snap Utah’s two-year hold on the crown. Technically, Kwon wasn’t a BYU golfer yet last year when he won at The Country Club in Salt Lake City, but he was in the transfer portal after a two-year run at Cal and committed to BYU shortly after beating David Liechty in the final.
Ponich, 24, said he and Jones, 20, are “super close” after playing a lot together at BYU’s home course, Riverside Country Club in Provo.
“We are pretty similar. We hit it around the same distance. We kinda get stuff done with our short game and I think it will be a cool battle to see two guys who don’t necessarily hit it the longest out there,” Ponich said.
“Just good wedge play, good putting. It will be a good match, and a lot of fun.”
In the morning quarterfinals, Jones eliminated Utah Tech golfer Zach Felts 3 and 2, while Ponich held off former BYU golfer Elijah Turner 3 and 1.
Jones then downed former Weber State golfer Brendan Thomas 3 and 2 in the afternoon’s semifinals after Thomas had advanced with a 1 up win over Spanish Fork teenager Jackson Rhees.
Thomas, 24, who is from Layton, recently exhausted his eligibility at Weber State and is still deciding whether he will pursue a professional golf career or put his business administration degree to work.
“This week was a ton of fun,” Thomas said. “I had never made it this far, so it was just fun. I tried to enjoy it as much as I could.”
Thomas didn’t view the semifinal as a BYU vs. Weber State affair, but rather an opportunity to see how he could handle the pressure of competition in 102 degree heat.
“I have always been a BYU fan growing up, so it definitely wasn’t like a rivalry match or anything,” he said. “Cooper is a super great kid. It was an honor to play against him today.”
The other semifinal did pit a Ute vs. a Cougar, as Ponich knocked off rising Utah redshirt junior Davis Johnson 4 and 3 with a flurry of spectacular play in the middle of the match.
Ponich birdied holes 7, 8 and 9 to break open a tight match.
“I think I made six birdies in the afternoon and four or five in the morning,” Ponich said. “I was just super focused, hit a lot of smart shots.”
Johnson had advanced with a 3 and 1 win over Aidan Thain in the morning.