A pair of Utahns from Ogden led the local contingent at the PGA Tour’s Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort in Ivins Friday.
Former BYU player Zac Blair and Connor Howe comfortably avoided the cut heading into Saturday’s third round. Howe found himself 4-under par after 12 holes with no bogeys when play was suspended due to darkness.
His 7-under par status before finishing his third round Saturday morning put him within three shots of the leader.
Blair, meanwhile, fired a 2-under par 69 for a 5-under par total in Friday’s second round. He is five shots off leader Michael Brennan, who is at 10-under par heading into Saturday’s third round.
Blair, who lives in Orem and grew up in Ogden before excelling at BYU, hit his driver off the deck on his final hole, the Par 5 18th, to set up a birdie.
He carded rounds of 68 and 69 and is in the top 10 in the field in strokes gained from the fairway.
“It was a nice couple of days, kind of, you know, a little bit up and down,” said Blair.
He made birdies on 5, 7, 8, 14 and 18. On the drivable Par 4 14th Blair hit driver both days to set up and eagle and birdie.
“When there’s no wind, it’s a perfect shot for me because I don’t have to step on my driver to get there,” he said. “I had had a bunch of good looks and some bogeys mixed in, but made a nice share birdies, which was fine. Hopefully we can have two more good days.
“That’s kind of been my Achilles heel a little bit, playing like this basically the last couple of years. I find a way to fall asleep for an hour or two out there and have a bad round, so, you know, we’ll see if I can keep doing what I did the first couple of days, you know, for the next two.”
Howe was also 6-under and safely above the cutline heading into his final holes with an expected suspended play due to darkness.
Locals who failed to make the cut included Utah Tech amateur David Liechty, Utah professional Tommy Sharp, Farmington’s Preston Summerhays, Ogden’s Patrick Fishburn and BYU freshman Kihei Akina, who played at Lone Peak High School.