In July of 2006, a 16-year-old Tony Finau edged a 22-year-old Daniel Summerhays 3 and 2 in a tightly contested 36-hole Utah State Amateur championship match to win the century-old golf tournament at Soldier Hollow Golf Club in the foothills of Midway.
This week, those Utah-born golfers who are still enjoying professional careers could see their sons — 14-year-old Jraice Finau and 18-year-old Jack Summerhays — repeat that memorable match if the golfing gods are smiling upon them.
Jraice Finau and Jack Summerhays are among the field of 288 competitors at Soldier Hollow this week in the 128th Utah State Amateur, which unabashedly bills itself as the “oldest continuous golf tournament in the world.”
The tournament begins Monday with the first of two rounds of stroke play qualifying; After Tuesday’s second round — participants who play the Gold Course on Monday will play the Silver Course on Tuesday, and vice versa — the low 64 golfers will make match play, scheduled to begin on Wednesday.
If a playoff for the last few match play berths is needed, it will be held Wednesday morning.
I know I can beat anyone in the field on any given day, and that’s a great feeling. There’s not one player here I think I can’t beat. And that’s a dangerous place to be.
— 2025 semifinalist Noah Schone
Finau (the youngest golfer in the field), Summerhays (who will play college golf at Utah Tech) and the son of two-time State Am champion Don Branca (1974 and 1975) will tee off together at 7:30 a.m. Monday.
Robert Branca will join them on the No. 10 tee of the Gold Course.
In another interesting stroke-play pairing, former BYU golfers Cole Ogden and Jordan Rodgers will join Dan Horner on the No. 1 tee at 7:30 a.m. Monday in a threesome of past State Am champions at Soldier Hollow.
Ogden won in 2013, Rodgers won in 2015 and Horner won in 2008.
“That’s a really cool pairing,” said Horner, 48.
Defending champion Bowen Mauss, a rising sophomore at Arizona State, will be paired with incoming BYU golfer David Liechty and incoming Utah golfer Jaxon Erickson, a Riverton High product, at 7:50 a.m. Monday.
Mauss defeated BYU’s Simon Kwon to win the State Am last year at Logan Country Club, but Kwon has exhausted his college eligibility and turned pro.
Another storyline: BYU’s Whitney Banz qualifies
In another interesting pairing, the 8:10 a.m. tee time on the Gold Course will feature BYU golfer Parker Bunn, Utah Tech golfer KJ Ofahengaue and the only female golfer in the field, BYU women’s golfer Whitney Banz.
Banz, from Salt Lake City, shot a 74 at the qualifier at nearby Wasatch Mountain State Park to make it into the State Am and will be the fifth female golfer to play in the event.
She joins Annie Thurman-Young (2003 and 2004), former BYU golfer Naomi Soifua (2017), former UVU golfer Carly Dehlin Hirsch (2018) and former Arizona State golfer Grace Summerhays (2019) in that elite group.
“I’ve tried to qualify for it a couple of times. I missed by one or two shots,” Banz, who will be a senior at BYU, told Fairways Magazine. “So it is awesome to finally qualify.”
Along with Liechty, Bunn and Banz, other current or future BYU golfers in the field are Jackson Mauss, Lincoln Markham, Angus Klintworth and Austin Shelley, a recent Skyline High graduate.
Erickson, former Olympus standout Will Pedersen and Brandon Robison will represent the Utes.
Shelley and Utah-bound Erickson played a friendly match Wednesday during the media day and Shelley prevailed 2 up. Shelley shot 67 and Erickson shot 69.
End of an era at Soldier Hollow
Easton Folster, executive director of the Utah Golf Association, said that this will be the final State Am with an expanded field. Next year’s State Am is at Willow Creek Country Club in Sandy and will have a field of 156 players.
It is the eighth time that Soldier Hollow will host the State Am, and possibly the last. The 2028 tournament will be held at Oakridge Country Club in Farmington, the 2029 tournament site has not been named and the 2030 tournament will be held at Alpine Country Club.
Folster said the 2031 State Am will be contested in St. George for the first time ever — at Entrada Country Club. However, it will be held in early June rather than mid-July in an attempt to avoid the St. George heat.
As for Soldier Hollow, Folster said the 36-hole facility has served the UGA well since Tony Finau won in 2006 and will be another stern test for the state’s best amateur golfers this week.
“We will grow the rough up a little bit and make it more difficult as we approach the event,” he said Wednesday.
Luke Fratus took over as the UGA’s director of championships and operations in February, succeeding Colin Clawson. He confirmed that the rough and surrounding fescue grass will be “grown quite a bit,” but noted that conditions will be “reasonable” as the UGA tries to maintain a respectable pace of play.
“Challenging, but fair, is what we are always aiming for,” Fratus said. “We certainly don’t want it to be super difficult, especially with a field of 288, as opposed to 156 like we’ve had in the past. … It won’t be super challenging, but we also want to identify the best players for match play.”
Speaking of match play, Fratus predicted that two or three over par will get the job done, unless the wind blows.
“If it is windy, I could see anywhere between five or six over for those last spots,” he said.
Four years ago at Soldier Hollow, then-BYU golfer Zac Jones was medalist at 12-under — shooting 66s on both tracks — en route to winning the title. The cut came at 3-over.
This Mr. Rodgers is ready to rock
The aforementioned Rodgers ran away with the title in 2015, then turned pro and chased the mini-tours for a while before “hanging up the sticks” in 2019 and spending most of his free time mountain biking four or five days a week.
He regained his amateur status in 2022, then “caught the bug” to get back into competitive golf the last few years as his two young children began playing the game.
Could he rekindle that 2015 magic again at Soldier?
“I mean, you never stop believing,” he said after playing with Horner on Wednesday. “That (talent) is always there. My game’s a little rusty. I hit some good shots today, but I have to clean up a few things. … I’m not playing just to play, though. The last few State Ams I played in, I kind of just showed up and slapped it around. In this one, I’m actually putting some work in on my game.”
Rodgers, who helps run a family concrete cutting business, said two or three over par will make the cut for match play.
“You have to hit your driver well here,” he said. “If you hit it well off the tee, this course is pretty gettable. It all depends on the wind.”
Horner almost has match play cornered
Dan Horner, the 2008 champion, is also one of those “older” players with a chance to go far in the tournament.
After shooting a 67 in a practice round Wednesday, he said he has enough game to win the state’s most prestigious amateur golf tournament again.
“It is always a battle of attrition. That’s the other element of it,” he said. “Once you hit the quarterfinals, you have to walk (no carts allowed) and that’s a lot of golf, and a lot of heat, to deal with.
“As you get older, that’s the harder part, to be able to hang in there for that many rounds. It is a lot.”
According to Kurt Kragthorpe of Fairways Magazine, Horner has a match-play record of 35-17 in the State Am. Six-time champion Billy Korns won 37 matches, the all-time record.
“I just enjoy competing,” Horner said. “I literally had no idea until he messaged me about it. … I had to go Google it to see. It is never something I have thought about.
“It is a pretty cool thing, I guess, but it is not why I am playing. That’s not really the goal.”
Horner said the cut will come “somewhere around par” unless the wind kicks up, and then it could rise to as high as four or five over.
Horner said other seasoned amateurs who have to work for a living to keep an eye on include former pro Steele DeWald, Bret Parker, former State Am champion Darrin Overson and the top two finishers in last month’s Salt Lake City amateur — champion Devin Tovey and runner-up Kenny Palmer.
Art City Amateur champion Cameron Crawford is another non-college golfer to watch.
Can St. George’s Noah Schone contend again?
Relatively unknown heading into the 2025 golf season, St. George’s Noah Schone played so well last year that he won the UGA’s Men’s Player of the Year honors.
Schone served notice at the 2025 State Am that he was a force to be reckoned with, earning medalist honors and then making it to the semifinals before being ousted by Kwon.
Now 27 and a known commodity in the Utah golf community — the Pine View High graduate owns Eco Battery, a company he co-founded that makes lithium batteries for golf carts and recreational vehicles — Schone said Wednesday that last year’s run gave him the confidence he needs to win it all this year.
“Last year taught me a lot. I had a really good year,” he said, after shooting two or three under par Wednesday. “I am just kind of carrying that momentum into this year.
“Soldier Hollow is a place that I love, so I am super excited. I know I can beat anyone in the field on any given day, and that’s a great feeling. There’s not one player here I think I can’t beat. And that’s a dangerous place to be.”
Schone said he placed second in the individual race for a high school championship twice at Soldier Hollow and is ready to break through.
“I’ve got a lot of unfinished business here,” he said.
Of the college players, any of the BYU or Utah golfers have to be considered contenders, especially the aforementioned Liechty, who had a sensational year for Utah Tech before transferring to BYU.
Liechty lost to Kwon in the 2023 finals at Salt Lake Country Club and in the semifinals last year.
Perhaps the best amateur golfer in the state, rising BYU sophomore Kihei Akina, is not entered because he’s playing in the Arnold Palmer Cup in Ireland until Sunday.