This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Provo • Like any professional golfer in his 20s, Zahkai Brown has bigger ambitions than playing in the Siegfried & Jensen Utah Open every year.

He keeps coming back to Utah in August in his continual search for places to play, and his reward came Sunday — after he almost skipped the tournament, just this once. Brown birdied the last two holes to earn a two-stroke victory and a $21,000 check that justified his choice of driving to Riverside Country Club from Minot, N.D., rather than going home to suburban Denver.

And that's even with his wedding scheduled Thursday. Utah Section PGA administrators influenced this outcome by being well organized. With his pro-am assignment and tournament tee times already posted, Brown figured he shouldn't withdraw — even after playing poorly last weekend and figuring he should help with the wedding plans.

So he drove 15 hours from North Dakota, carded a 61 in the Wednesday pro-am and then shot 66-70-64 for a 16-under-par total, pulling away from Idaho pro Ty Travis with those two late birdies.

Brown, 26, contended in two previous Utah Opens at Oakridge Country Club and two events at Riverside, but faded in the final rounds. "This year was different," he said.

BYU golfer Patrick Fishburn of Ogden tried to make the 2016 Utah Open really unusual, but he faded to a 1-over 73 and a tie for fifth place after opening with a 62 and taking a two-shot lead into the final round. Fishburn could have become the first golfer since 1934 to win the State Amateur and the Utah Open in the same year. Even so, he claimed the Utah Open's low amateur award after winning the Salt Lake City Amateur and the State Am.

Former BYU golfer Joe Parkinson of Alpine closed with a 67 and tied for fifth, the best showing among Utah pros. Craig Hocknull, the Glenwild Golf Club & Spa's director of instruction, finished eighth as the top Utah PGA member. Utah pros Seokwon Jeon, Tracy Zobell and Tommy Sharp were in a group tied for ninth.

Fishburn held the lead after making birdies at Nos. 5, 6 and 7, but some sloppy play put him behind and his hopes of winning ended when his second shot out of the trees on the par-5 No. 15 trickled into the pond near the green. Making what he labeled "the dumbest play in the history of the game," Fishburn tried to hit the submerged ball, which stayed in the water. He triple-bogeyed the hole.

But that's forgivable. As he said, "I wasn't playing for second," and he couldn't have caught Brown anyway.

Brown bogeyed the par-4 No. 16, taking four putts from the fringe after nearly driving the green. Someone told him he still led by three strokes at that point. "Obviously, I didn't," he said later.

That's because Travis, playing behind Brown, was about to tie him with a chip-in eagle on No. 16. In any case, Brown birdied the par-3 No. 17 from 7 feet and the par-4 No. 18 from 15 feet, after a pitch shot out of the rough and over a tree.

As a Colorado State golfer, Brown once won BYU's Cougar Classic at Riverside by shooting a back-nine 30. This win was his fifth of the year and 14th of his pro career, which he hopes soon will lead to the Web.com Tour. His brother, Zenon, formerly joined him in these mini-tour travels, but has settled into a real estate career.

Zahkai Brown keeps going in golf, even if other alternatives are "always on your mind," he said. "You're putting up more money than you have and you're trying to make the money back."

In Provo, he came out way ahead.

kkragthorpe@sltrib.com Twitter: @tribkurt —

Storylines

R Colorado pro Zahkai Brown birdies the last two holes to win the Siegfried & Jensen Utah Open by two strokes over Idaho's Ty Travis, earning $21,000.

• BYU golfer Patrick Fishburn shoots 71-73 on the weekend and ties for fifth place after opening with a 62.

• Special Olympics Utah receives a $45,000 contribution from the Utah Section PGA, observing the organizations' 25-year anniversary of working together.