Most of the pre-tournament favorites at the 121st Utah State Amateur are still in the running for the championship after the Round of 64 matches were contested on Wednesday at Soldier Hollow Golf Course in Midway.
Medalist Colton Tanner, the University of Utah golfer, blitzed former Ute Greg Slack 6 & 5 in the first match of the day.
Defending champion Preston Summerhays, the No. 2 seed, made quick work of playoff-survivor Patrick Horstmann, winning 5 & 4 on the Gold Course, where all the matches will be played through Saturday’s 36-hole championship match.
Summerhays’ younger sister was not as fortunate. Having become only the second woman in tourney history to qualify for match play on Tuesday, Grace Summerhays lost 4 & 2 to former Utah State golfer Brennan Coburn.
Former Alpine resident Annie Thurman Young — now the women’s golf coach at Tulsa — remains the only woman to have won a State Am match.
Third-seeded Cole Ponich, who is headed to BYU this fall, defeated former Utah Valley golf coach Tommy Johnson 4 & 3. After holding off the younger Summerhays, Coburn will now face the red-hot Ponich, who would have contented for medalist honors if not for a triple bogey in stroke-play qualifying.
Colton Dallmore, the No. 4 seed, was upset by 15-year-old Cooper Jones of Highland, a Lone Peak High golfer and the brother of Zach Jones, a BYU-bound golfer who was also victorious Wednesday.
The Jones brothers’ father, Clark, lost a close match to Masen Ward (2 & 1) or the family would have had three contestants in the Round of 32.
That round will be played Thursday morning, while the Round of 16 will be played Thursday afternoon. When the day’s rounds are over, only eight players will remain in the hunt for the crown. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played on Friday.
Among the better matches in Thursday’s Round of 32: BYU golfer Kelton Hirsch, the 2017 State Am champion at Ogden Golf & Country Club against former University of Utah golfer Steven Croft; Park City’s Tanner vs. seasoned amateur Ryan Brimley, a former college basketball player; BYU golfer Spencer Dunaway vs. former Jordan High golfer Christopher Cheney, now at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.
Along with Preston Summerhays, two other former champions are still alive — Hirsch and Dan Horner, the 2008 champion at Soldier Hollow. Another past champion at Soldier Hollow, Cole Ogden (2013) lost his first-round match 1 up Wednesday to Nick Becker, a former BYU golfer.
Wednesday’s Match Play Results
Bracket No. 1
No. 1 Colton Tanner def. No 64 Greg Slack, 6 & 5
No. 33 Ryan Brimley def. No. 32 Kyle Dearden, 2 & 1
No. 16 Chase Lansford def. No. 49 Michael Branca, 1 up
No. 48 Nick Becker def. No. 17 Cole Ogden, 1 up
No. 8 Mitchell Schow def. No. 57 Brett Garner, 6 & 5
No. 25 Alec Williams def. No. 40 Jayce Frampton, 2 & 1
No. 56 Zane Brownrigg def. No. 9 Brigham Gibbs, 1 up
No. 24 Thomas Young def. No. 41 Andrew Cottle, 1 up
No. 61 Cooper Jones def. No. 4 Colton Dallimore, 3 & 2
No. 36 Blake Murray def. No. 29 Dylan Chugg, 4 & 3
No. 13 Kelton Hirsch def. No. 52 Noah Schone, 4 & 3
No. 45 Steven Croft def. No. 20 Triston Gardner, 6 & 5
No. 60 Aaron Smith def. No. 5 Denny Job, 1 up
No. 37 Spencer Wallace def. No. 28 Peyton Hastings, 5 & 4
No. 12 Christopher Cheney def. No. 53 Paul Cannon, 3 & 2
No. 21 Spencer Dunaway def. No. 44 Joshua Lansky, 2 & 1
Bracket No. 2
No. 2 Preston Summerhays def. No. 63 Patrick Horstmann, 5 & 4
No. 34 Boston Watts def. No. 31 Ryan Seamons, 5 & 4
No. 50 John Owen def. No. 15 Carl Jensen, 3 & 2
No. 18 Reed Nielsen def. No. 47 Hunter Howe, 3 & 2
No. 7 Zach Jones def. No. 58 Christopher Romney, 6 & 4
No. 26 Braydon Swapp def. No. 39 Clay Bingham, 19 holes
No. 23 Jake Vincent def. No. 42 Cole Wecker, 1 up
No. 3 Cole Ponich def. No. 62 Tommy Johnson, 4 & 3
No. 30 Brennan Coburn def. No. 35 Grace Summerhays, 4 & 2
No. 51 Elijah Turner def. No. 14 Tanner Telford, 4 & 3
No. 19 Dan Horner def. No. 46 Kyler Tueller, 1 up
No. 6 Cameron Tucker def. No. 59 Kurt Owen, 4 & 3
No. 38 Derek Penman def. No. 27 Joshua Pehrson, 3 & 2.
No. 11 Nathan Ouimette def. No. 54 Tanner Alder, 2 up
No. 43 John Reid def. No. 22 Ryan Barber, 1 up
Thursday’s Round of 32 Matches
Bracket No. 1
Tanner vs. Brimley, 8:50 a.m.
Lansford vs. Becker, 9 a.m.
Schow vs. Williams, 9:10 a.m.
Brownrigg vs. Young, 9:20 a.m.
C. Jones vs. Murray, 9:30 a.m.
Hirsch vs. Croft, 9:40 a.m.
A. Smith vs. Wallace, 9:50 a.m.
Cheney vs. Dunaway, 10 a.m.
Bracket No. 2
P. Summerhays vs. Watts, 7:30 a.m.
J. Owen vs. R. Nielsen, 7:40 a.m.
Z. Jones vs. Swapp, 7:50 a.m.
Ward vs. Vincent, 8 a.m.
Ponich vs. Coburn, 8:10 a.m.
Turner vs. Horner, 8:20 a.m.
Tucker vs. Penman, 8:30 a.m.
Ouimette vs. Reid, 8:40 a.m.
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