Native Utahn Connor Howe posted the lowest score of locals in the opening round of the Bank of Utah Championship in Ivins on Thursday.
Three players — Thorbjorn Olesen, Jesper Svensson and David Pipsky — are tied for the lead at 6-under par, and two others — Kevin Yu and Austin Cook — were also 6-under par with more holes to play when the horn sounded, stopping play due to darkness.
Howe, who hails from Ogden, played at Georgia Tech and has logged paychecks from the Korn Ferry Tour, fired a 3-under par 68. He had six birdies and three bogeys as part of his 68.
Former BYU Cougars star Zac Blair, who calls Orem home, fired a 3-under par and has a 6-foot par putt to start Friday’s round on his 16th hole.
Blair, a PGA Tour veteran and son of Cougar All-American Jimmy Blair, made a 40-foot birdie on his eighth hole (No. 17) and eagled his fourth hole.
He started his round on No. 10.
Carson Lundell, another former Cougar, fired a first-round 1-under par with birdies on 4, 8, and 9 and an eagle on 18.
Ogden’s Patrick Fishburn got in 13 holes and was even-par when play concluded.
Utahn Preston Summerhays, an All-American when playing at Arizona State, also failed to finish his first round and was 5-over par after 12 holes.
Amateur David Liechty also struggled, firing an opening-round score of 4-over par with 13 holes under his belt before play was called.
Liechty, a freshman at Utah Tech from Layton, previously advanced to the round of 32 at the U.S. Amateur at the Olympic Club this summer and received a sponsor’s exemption.
BYU freshman Kihei Akina, the defending Utah Open champion, struggled out of the chute in his first round.
A year ago, Akina used his sponsor’s exemption to come within one stroke of making the cut at this event at 5-under after 36 holes. On Thursday, Akina made double bogeys on No. 7 (Par 5) and No. 11 (Par 4) and made four bogeys.
He birdied the 14th and 15th holes and finished a disappointing 6-over par.
