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Lehi • A pair of Utah natives have been awarded sponsor's exemptions for the 2016 Web.com Tour's Utah Championship.
Park City's Steele DeWald, a former Arizona State golfer, and Lehi's Marcus Burbank have been given unrestricted exemptions and will join the field at Thanksgiving Point for the tournament July 21-24. Burbank was PGA Tour regular Tony Finau's caddy from 2013-15 and is an aspiring local professional golfer.
"I am extremely grateful," said DeWald, who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., but is residing in his hometown of Park City this summer. "This is an extremely big opportunity for myself."
Burbank said he is humbled by the opportunity.
"Thanks to Mark [Whetzel] and the Utah Sports Commission for the chance," he said.
Other local golfers will get the chance to earn one of 12 spots at a qualifying event on July 18 at Talons Cove Golf Course. Former Utah Open champion B.J. Staten is currently the only Utahn with full privileges on the Web.com Tour.
Thanksgiving Point is hosting the event for the second straight year after a long run at Willow Creek Country Club in Sandy. For the second year, golfers will attempt to win the Billy Casper Cup, which was instituted last year and won by Patton Kizzire of Georgia. He shot an 18-under-par 269.
DeWald was a four-time all-stater at Park City High before playing at ASU. His career includes two top-25 finishes in the Utah Open and he has won four times on the Pepsi Tour. DeWald has two top-15 finishes on the PGA Tour Canada.
The 29-year-old pro has limited access on the Web.com Tour due to his finish in last year's qualifying tournament.
"The reality is that it is very, very difficult to get into [Web.com Tour] events this year," he said.
Burbank grew up in West Jordan and currently lives in Lehi. He was Finau's caddy when Finau finished tied for third in the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament. He won the Golf Channel Amateur Tour championship while living in Hawaii before turning pro in 2007.
Thanksgiving Point has made some changes to present a more challenging course next month. The fifth hole has been reconfigured from a par-5 to a par-4 and some fairways have been narrowed.
"Missed fairways will result in challenging approach shots from the first cut of rough and especially from the thick and deep primary rough," said Whetzel, Thanksgiving Point's Director of Golf.
Once again, the Utah Championship will be presented by Zions Bank and hosted by the Utah Sports Commission.
Twitter: @drewjay —
Web.com Tour Utah Championship
P At Thanksgiving Point
July 21-24