Austin Shelley’s brothers no longer have a leg up on him.
The Skyline senior birdied the first playoff hole of the 5A state championship at TalonsCove on Tuesday to claim the 5A individual title, the same title his older brothers Tyson and Jackson previously won.
“They both won as a team and individually their senior year, so I didn’t feel pressure, but I kind of felt like not to the family down I had to do the same thing,” said a smiling Shelley afterward.
Shelley was two strokes down on No. 18, but the golfer he’d been chasing all day hit his drive out of bounds, and Shelley and Olympus’ Will Pedersen finished in a tie at 11-under after 36 holes.
On the playoff hole at No. 18, both Shelley and Pedersen hit their approach shots roughly equidistant from the pin, but on opposite sides of the hole. Shelley went first and rolled in his 20-footer for birdie.
“I had a good line, but I was a little shaky over the putt. Right as I hit it, I was ‘oh, goodness, needs to sit,’ Then it hit center of the cup and dropped,” said Shelley, who called it the biggest putt he’s ever made.
Pedersen left his birdie putt short right to finish runner-up to his former teammate.
Shelley and Pedersen were teammates at Olympus in their freshman and sophomore years, and even won a 5A team title together as sophomores in 2023. Shelley opted to transfer to Skyline his junior year to play with his older brother, Jackson, for one season.
Jackson Shelley won the individual title last year by four strokes, having previously won the title in 2023 by three strokes as a sophomore. Tyson Shelley won his title in 2020.
Austin Shelley’s late push of three birdies in the final six holes not only helped him chase down Pedersen, but it helped the Eagles beat rival Olympus for the team title by one stroke as well, 575 to 576.
The Eagles have now won seven of the past eight 5A state titles.
West Field finished third with a 591, followed by Spanish Fork and Timpview in the top five.
“They wanted this. They went and got it,” said Skyline coach Kenny James. “We had a little help, but we finally got a break. We didn’t get many breaks yesterday, but we got a couple today, and then we made the most of it.”
Skyline and Olympus ended Monday’s opening round tied at 285, which was fitting after what James called a roller coaster day of golf.
“We were ahead, then we were way ahead, then we were behind, then we were close, and then they were ahead, and then we were way behind, and then all of a sudden, they melt down and we melt down, so now we’re tied,” said James.
On Tuesday though, outside of Shelley and Pedersen, no other Olympus or Skyline golfers shot under par as the teams remained tight in the team race all day.
After Shelley’s 66, Skyline’s other three scoring golfers on Tuesday were Marcus Davis-Condie with a 73, Bodie Green with a 74 and Boone Brown with a 76 — with all four finishing in the top 20.
“It’s a special group. I told them all along it was going to come down to something like this, and even after they beat us in the region, I said, in the future no one’s going to remember who won the region, it’s who played the best for two days. And that’s pretty neat,” James said.
One of the biggest putts of the day for Skyline was Shelley’s 12-foot birdie putt on No. 17 to match the birdie putt from the fringe by Pedersen. It kept Shelley two strokes down instead of three heading to the final hole.
He admits he knew it was a long shot regardless.
“When I got to No. 18 tee box I didn’t really think I had a chance, unless I would have birdied and he possibly could’ve bogeyed, but he went first and once he hit OB, I know I was right back in it,” said Shelley, who trailed by two after Monday’s first round. “First time all time all tournament I wasn’t crawling up from behind.”
Shelley carried that momentum into the playoff, where he felt much more at ease on the No. 18 tee box than 30 minutes earlier. As for sinking the winning putt in front of well over 100 spectators, he said that ranks higher than his putt to win the junior state am this past summer.
While Pedersen and Shelley were in a battle for first all day, there was a great battle for third, with Viewmont’s Corver Barnes and Salem Hills’ Carson Peterson ultimately finishing in a tie with 6-under 138s. Timpview’s Calvin Lillywhite and West Field’s Mack Herzog tied for fifth with 5-under 139s.
Class 5A state tournament
At TalonsCove Golf Course
Team scores (Day 2)
- 575 — Skyline
- 576 — Olympus
- 591 — West Field
- 595 — Spanish Fork
- 596 — Timpview
- 598 — Brighton
- 601 — Viewmont
- 601 — Fremont
- 602 — Salem Hills
- 615 — Northridge
Individual standings (Top 25)
* Won on first playoff hole
- *133 — Austin Shelley, Skyline
- 133 — Will Pedersen, Olympus
- 138 — Corver Barnes, Viewmont
- 138 — Carson Peterson, Salem Hills
- 139 — Calvin Lillywhite, Timpview
- 139 — Mack Herzog, West Field
- 140 — Kanyon DeRyke, Box Elder
- 141 — Ethan Luna, West Field
- 142 — Cole Murray, Brighton
- 144 — Oliver Gladwell, Viewmont
- 144 — Lincoln Peterson, Olympus
- 145 — Ty Cottle, Bountiful
- 146 — Tytan Bingham, Spanish Fork
- 146 — Cooper Dowdell, Alta
- 147 — Luke Hadley, Fremont
- 147 — Marcus Davis-Condie, Skyline
- 147 — Josh Neff, Olympus
- 148 — Tye Barber, Spanish Fork
- 148 — Alex Rogers, Brighton
- 148 — Josh Wallis, Bonneville
- 148 — Bodie Green, Skyline
- 149 — Luke Manning, Fremont
- 149 — Jesse Jones, Roy
- 149 — Boone Brown, Skyline
- 149 — Perry Shaffer, Skyline