LOGAN — Although they are always grateful when a country club steps up and agrees to host the Utah State Amateur golf tournament, UGA officials were a bit concerned when they decided to take the 127th iteration of the venerable event to Logan Country Club this year, for a couple of reasons.
One, Logan CC isn’t along the Wasatch Front, where the majority of the state’s top amateur golfers reside.
Two, the par-70 layout is short, by most standards, checking in at just 6,227 yards from the tips.
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Turns out, none of their concerns have materialized.
Registration filled up quickly, and golfers who toured the recently redesigned course in practice rounds said it includes a lot of good risk-reward holes and will prove to be an outstanding course for match play.
‘I think it is going to be a great course for the State Am,” said 50-year-old Darrin Overson, the 1998 champion at Riverside Country Club in Provo.
“I think what it offers in match play will far outweigh what the stroke-play portion of the tournament will be like. Yeah, Logan is a good test, for sure.”
The tournament billed as the longest continuously held golf tournament in the world begins Monday with the first of two rounds of stroke-play qualifying at Logan CC and Eagle Mountain Golf Course, a 35-minute drive through Sardine Canyon in Brigham City.
Because of high canyon winds at both courses in the morning, play won’t begin each day until 9:30 a.m.
After each golfer in the 156-player field plays both courses, the lowest 64 players on the leader board will advance to Wednesday’s first round of match play at Logan CC.
If a playoff for the final few match play berths is needed, it will be held at Eagle Mountain on Tuesday evening around 7 p.m.
The round of 32 and round of 16 matches will be contested Thursday, while Friday will feature the quarterfinals and semifinals.
The 36-hole championship match is scheduled for Saturday. BYU golfer Cole Ponich won the event last year at Ogden Golf & Country Club but has turned pro and won his pro debut last month at the Primo Provo Championship.
A new champion will be crowned
So one thing is certain: There will be a new champion. Who will it be?
The sentimental pick is Jason Wight, the former BYU and Utah State golfer who won the State Am the last time it was contested at Logan CC, exactly 30 years ago.
Wight hasn’t played in the State Am for more than 10 years, but said last Wednesday he is willing to give it a try if his body holds up.
“I have got back problems and hip issues,” he said. “I can’t hit it more than 230 yards. I am just here to enjoy it.”
That said, Wight is a bit sheepish about playing — former champions are exempt from qualifying — because he feels like he is taking a spot from someone who could win it.
His pick is Utah Tech sophomore Jackson Rhees, the son of his brother-in-law, former BYU standout golfer Ryan Rhees.
“It is usually won by a college kid,” said Wight. “It is a lot of golf, and mentally it puts a lot of strain and pressure on you.”
Overson, one of those “older” guys who always seems to be a tough out if he can get to match play, said a lot of guys will be able to reach several par-4s with their tee shots, adding intrigue when match play begins.
“You can still make birdie from the middle of the fairway from 100 yards out, so I don’t think (Logan CC) is going to favor any type of player,” Overson said.
“The (shortish) length of the golf course is probably going to bring in some players that wouldn’t be as successful as at Soldier Hollow, or somewhere like that — the shorter players. But it will be fun, for sure.”
One of the favorites, Utah Mid-Amateur champion Steele Dewald, has withdrawn from the tournament.
BYU’s Tyson Shelley is certainly one to watch. The long-hitting college golfer can probably overpower Logan. He aced the par-4 17th hole at media day, hitting a “strong 4-iron” from 256 yards out.
Logan’s routing has been changed for the State Am.
“I like the layout of this whole course,” Shelley said. “It is a really good match-play course, with a lot of good risk-reward type holes. … You can play super well, but if you are barely off you can shoot a high score. It’s short but dangerous.”
Another college golfer with a good chance to win is recently graduated Utah State golfer John Cook, who knows the layout just east of the USU campus better than anyone in the field because he has played it hundreds of times.
“John Cook hits it 320 without any trouble,” Wight said. “The college kids now are incredible. They’ll be tough to beat.”
Another college player to watch is Simon Kwon, the BYU star who won the State Am two years ago at The Country Club in Salt Lake City.
UGA says golf courses won’t be ‘tricked up’
Longtime UGA volunteer and rules official Keith Hansen, a Logan CC member, said Wednesday that the rough “is almost exactly where we want it,” but the course hasn’t been “tricked up” to ensure high scores and keep the membership happy.
Hansen, who will work with Colin Clawson of the UGA to set hole locations, said the course the competitors will find this week is the same one the membership plays on a daily basis.
“There are going to be some scores in the 90s, some in the 100s,” Hansen predicted.
As for whether or not golfers around the state are OK with the out-of-the-way nature of the venue, Clawson, who is the UGA’s director of championships and golf operations, said they sent the message loud and clear when registration took place.
“We run 11 qualifiers,” he said. “We filled every single one of the openings at the registration deadline.”
That means the maximum of 924 golfers attempted to qualify.
“Honestly, we were worried about that,” Clawson said. “We thought we might get a few less entrants, but people just love the State Am. … Guys just said, ‘I have never been up there. I would love to get up there and see that golf course.’ Yeah, we were thrilled with that. It was something we were concerned about.”
The State Am will return to Soldier Hollow GC next year and to Sandy’s Willow Creek Country Club in 2027. It will be played at Farmington’s Oakridge Country Club in 2028 and Alpine Country Club in 2030.
The 2029 venue has not been finalized.
“It is called the ‘State Amateur’ for a reason,” said Overson, who recently played in the U.S. Senior Open in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “We play most of the time in Salt Lake and Utah County. It is good every once in a while go to a place where we haven’t played in a long time. I know they are talking about trying to do something in St. George, too. I think that would be great.
“So yeah, Logan is good. The UGA is always looking for people who are willing to take care of the State Am, because it is such a demanding event on a golf course,” Overson continued. “So to find places like Logan that want to have the State Am, and are eager to have the State Am, we are excited to come and play here.”
What will it take to make match play?
Because two courses will be used for stroke-play qualifying, it is difficult to predict what kind of score it will take to get one of the coveted 64 match-play berths.
“Good question, because both courses have a lot of big numbers out there (possibly),” Wight said. “The greens at Eagle Mountain are faster than they have ever been. That course really wasn’t designed for fast greens. There are a lot of pitfalls out there. I am guessing maybe 5 or 6 over par.”
Overson believes it will be tougher than that to make match play, predicting the cut will come somewhere between even-par and 2-over.
“If the wind picks up, or if it is windy at all, that might jump up a little bit,” he said.
Shelley predicted the medalist will shoot 7 or 8 under, and the cut for match play will be 5 or 6 over.
“You definitely got to hit it straight off the tee,” he said. “I mean, it is a really, really tight golf course, but there are some really getable holes out there, too.”
Shelley’s brother, Jackson, who has signed with BYU but will depart on a two-year church mission to Seoul, Korea, on July 14, said the cut for match play will probably come at 6 or 7 over, especially if the rough around the greens is as long as it was last week.
Clawson said the rough at Logan CC would be “topped off” at 3 inches on Saturday.
Another of the three Shelley brothers, Austin, recently won the UGA Junior State Amateur at Glenmoor Golf Club in South Jordan. The rising senior at Skyline High School said Logan CC will “surprise some people” with its difficulty and believes the match-play cut will be 5 or 6 over par.
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