alt=Jay DrewWednesday, May 18, 2022, will go down as one of the better day in the history of local Utah golf.
Why?
• BYU golfer Carson Lundell, who prepped at Alpine’s Lone Peak High, was medalist at the NCAA Men’s Golf West Regional in Stockton, California. The senior fired a 54-hole total of 11-under 205 at The Reserve at Spanos Park Golf Course to edge Arizona State’s Mason Andersen by a shot.
• Ranked 50th, the University of Utah’s men’s golf team placed fifth at the NCAA’s Norman (Oklahoma) Regional, qualifying for the NCAA Championships in late May/early June for the first time since 1988. The Utes shot an even-par round of 288 Wednesday, finishing at 4-under 860 to hold off South Carolina for the fifth and final qualifying spot.
• Ranked 46th, the BYU men’s golf team shot an 11-under-par 277 Wednesday and finished at 27-under 837, good enough for third place at the regional. The Cougars, a shot back of second-place Stanford and 11 back of West Region champion Arizona State, are returning to the NCAA Golf Championships for the first time since 2019.
Because the third round of the national tournament May 27 to June 1 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, falls on a Sunday, BYU will play its “third round” first, on Thursday, May 26, just as it did three years ago in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
• Big Sky champion Weber State also competed at the Stockton Regional, but failed to advance. The Wildcats finished 14th in their regional.
• Arizona State’s Preston Summerhays, a two-time Utah State Amateur champion who spends his summers in Utah, tied for 10th at the Stockton Regional with a 7-under 209. Summerhays, son of former Davis High standout Boyd Summerhays, fired a 5-under 67 Wednesday to help the Sun Devils win the regional by 10 strokes.
• Weber High graduate Connor Howe helped his Georgia Tech squad tie for first at the Columbus (Ohio) Regional. Howe, a junior from Ogden, tied for seventh with a three-day total of 1-under 212.
BYU’s Lundell, a 2021 Honorable Mention All-American, won the PING Cougar Classic at Riverside Country Club in April and was named to the All-WCC golf team for the third straight year. He came up clutch Wednesday, carding a 4-under 68 to take medalist honors in California.
“Carson has a very promising future in professional golf,” BYU director of golf Todd Miller said in a school news release. “He’s an exceptional driver of the ball, and is one of the most consistent putters in collegiate golf. He really doesn’t have any weaknesses in his golf game, which is why you see him at the top of the leaderboard week-in and week-out.”
BYU’s qualifying team features products of four Utah high schools: Alpine’s Lundell (Lone Peak), Farmington’s Cole Ponich (Davis High), Sandy’s David Timmins (Brighton High), Salt Lake City’s Tyson Shelley (Skyline) and Alpine’s Max Brenchley (Lone Peak).
Timmins placed fourth in Stockton with a 9-under 207.
Utah finished eight shots behind No. 7-ranked Texas for fourth in Oklahoma. Salt Lake City’s Blake Tomlinson, a Skyline High product, tied for ninth with a 5-under 211. Spain’s Javier Barcos tied for 11th with a 3-under 213.
Chile’s Martin Leon, the 2021 Utah State Amateur champion, Canadian Tristan Mandur and freshman Braxton Watts of Farmington High in Davis County contributed to Utah’s finish.
According to longtime Utah golf historian and journalist Kurt Kragthorpe, Utah’s lineup in 1988 that went to the NCAA finals consisted of four Utahns: Matt Johnson, Eric Nielsen, Devin Dehlin and Doug Roberts, and a Canadian, Blair Philip. Ron Branca was the coach.
Utah’s coach now is Garrett Clegg, now in his fifth season. Former Alta High and Utes star Dustin Pimm is a volunteer assistant coach.