Mention the name Jay Don Blake, a St. George, Utah, native and PGA Tour star, to Scotland’s Nikki Christie and he lights up.
Christie is a member of Team Carnoustie, which helped Scotland win the 2025 Friendship Cup Tuesday at Sand Hollow Resort and his connection with Blake goes back to 2010, when Blake tied for third in the British Senior Open at Carnoustie, an event won by Bernhard Langer.
“His caddie was a local kid, Ivan Watson, and his winnings from working with Jay Don paid off his student loans and started him on his working career,” Christie said.
Christie was one of Scotland’s top players in the annual Friendship Cup competition between Scotland and the USA (comprised of players from Utah). Christie praised the event, notable since he and the rest of team Scotland are golfers who can easily and proudly name the oldest golf course in the world, the second oldest, the third, fourth, and so on. They play them all the time.
Once again, the Friendship Cup brought together two different cultures, men who bonded over the summer during competition in Scotland and at Sand Hollow in Hurricane, Utah, during Golf Week.
“The relationships are the most important. It has been an outstanding experience,” said building contractor Mark Kubicki. Kubicki is from Arbroath, Scotland, and made a return trip to Utah from a year ago when he filled in for another Scot who backed out due to cancer treatments.
The Americans made up a lot of ground on Scotland on Monday and Tuesday in the 2025 Friendship Cup at Sand Hollow Resort, an annual affair, but this Ryder Cup-type competition came down to the final three matches and members of Carnoustie and St. Andrews held on to win on Tuesday.
Scotland brought a 12-point lead into the final rounds at Sand Hollow after dominating in Scotland this past June. The final score was 33 to 30.5, Carnoustie/St. Andrews over Red Rocks/Roadrunners (USA).
“This event has been fantastic,” American captain Jimmy DeGrafenreid said. “It’s been fantastic every year that we’ve done it. This year the Scottish guys put together two of the best teams ever, solid golfers on both sides, but also fantastic guys.
“I’ve been involved with this for three years and I believe this year was the best by far. Even though we came out on the losing end, I feel like the quality of guys that were here, the quality of golf that was played was superb. I think everybody on our team would say that it was such a good experience for everybody involved.”
The event included myriad activities for the players from Scotland, including half their traveling group playing golf at Hobble Creek in Springville and the other half at Gladstan in Payson last Friday. The group also attended a SUU football game in Cedar City and went to see the Wizard of Oz at Tuacahn in Ivins.
Both Kubicki and Christie, who hardly knew each other although both are members of the famed Carnoustie Golf Club in Scotland, now play together at least twice a week since being members of Scotland’s Friendship Cup team. That they traveled from Scotland to Utah to play in this event again in 2025 just cemented what they say is one of the highlights of their amateur golf careers.
“It’s all been about relationships,” Christie said. “The people we’ve met, the friendships we’ve made are something I’ll never forget. I am so grateful for being able to come over here to Utah and see the vast, beautiful scenery, sights we never get to see in Scotland.”
Both Kubicki and Christie were blown away by Hobble Creek, long considered one of Utah’s most beautiful public golf courses. Located in Springville, up a canyon, Hobble Creek winds its way through 18 holes set in a valley.
“I’m a builder and I know my angles. To look up and see those mountains going up 45 degrees and are so close, was amazing. It reminded me of Scotland, except the mountains here are larger.”
Kubicki loved how he could hit his fairway woods farther at Hobble Creek’s 5,000-foot elevation. “On No. 3, I hit my 5-wood 205 yards, just 5 feet from the pin. In Scotland, I usually hit that club no more than 185.”
Christie said Hobble Creek did remind him of home, except the greens and type of grass were different.
“These greens were very fast. I love it. It was lush and pretty. I couldn’t get enough of it. Everyone was so friendly to us. It was just tremendous, just outstanding.”
The event was inspired by Mark Leavitt of Leavitt Insurance of Cedar City and Rhett Long, a former newspaper publisher in Ogden and former SUU golf star with many ties to southern Utah. Together, they’ve been the backbone of this competition in concert with Rod Sturrock, the retired starter at the old course at St. Andrews, Scotland.
On Wednesday, a Charity Cup competition with a similar Ryder Cup format will involve the 30 players from Scotland divided between teams comprised of BYU, the Utah Jazz, Las Vegas Raiders, and a Legends team led by former Utah Governors Mike Leavitt and Gary Herbert.
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