Two-time Utah State Amateur champion Jon Wright, now a member of The Country Club, remembers the first time he was invited to play at the scenic course on Salt Lake City’s east bench.
“We are thrilled to be here. The Country Club is completely bought in to putting on a fabulous event.” — UGA executive director Easton Folster
“I was 15 years old, and I can’t believe how excited I was to play here, and it did not disappoint,” Wright said at Thursday’s 125th State Amateur media day. “And honestly, every time I come through the gate it’s the same way. It never disappoints. I love it.”
Of course, that love was deepened in 2012 when Wright, a former pro who regained his amateur status, won the event billed as the longest continuously held golf tournament in the country at TCC in front of a gallery of friends and family that easily surpassed 100 people.
“Winning here in 2012, it was pretty special,” Wright said after he and about a dozen other top amateurs, media members and Utah Golf Association officials played the layout adjacent to Interstate 80 at the mouth of Parleys Canyon on Thursday. “There was a lot of emotion involved and it was a tough win. I mean, I beat a lot of great players (including current PGA Tour pro Zac Blair in the semifinals). “There were a lot of expectations. So yeah, I think about it all the time. And it doesn’t hurt that my trophies are in the trophy case that I get to walk by.”
Wright also won the State Am two years later at Ogden Golf & Country Club.
Recent Skyline graduate Peter Kim, who has signed to play at BYU this fall, shot the best round of the day, a 4-under 68 in slightly breezy conditions. When the tournament begins Monday, par will be 71 for the field of 156 as the third hole, which is a par-5 for members, becomes a par-4.
The Country Club, which was relocated to its current property in 1922, will be hosting its 42nd State Amateur, easily a record among Utah courses, but for the first time since Wright’s big win 11 years ago.
“We are thrilled to be here,” said Utah native Easton Folster, who replaced Jacob Miller last September as the new executive director of the UGA. “… The Country Club is completely bought in to putting on a fabulous event.”
Folster said it is “always a work in progress” to find State Am venues, but it was fitting that the 125th is held at such an important place in the state’s golfing history.
“The history of the State Am is forever intertwined with The Country Club,” Folster said. “So this is not new to them. They are great hosts. It was just one of those matches that made sense. … They want to host and we want to have it here, so it is a great partnership.”
If Thursday’s conditions were any indication, competitors will be tested on a very difficult golf course. Greens were rolling at 13 on the Stimpmeter, pins were tucked in some difficult spots, and the rough around the greens was already deep and gnarly.
Wright said he has spoken to a lot of players in the 156-golfer field who played practice rounds earlier this week or last week, and many of them said they had trouble shooting under 80.
“I wish the rough was a little taller, but there are still four more days for it to grow,” Wright said. “But it is a pretty straightforward golf course. To the kids who haven’t played here much, make sure you are in the fairway, keep it under the hole. That’s really going to be the key out here.”
Folster said by Monday the course could play even harder.
“I think those will be the speeds (on the greens),” Folster said. “I don’t know that they will get faster, and they are not going to get slower. The rough is probably going to get grown up even more.
“By the end of next week it is going to be very thick. We are not going to mow the rough again.
“This is hopefully the most challenging, yet most rewarding championship in the state. We feel like it has got to be earned, so it is going to play tough.”
Past State Ams have featured a field of 288, but Folster said those days are gone except for the years when the State Am returns to Midway’s Soldier Hollow facility, which has two outstanding 18-hole layouts, the Silver and Gold courses, and can accommodate a bigger field.
Next year’s State Am will be held at Ogden G&CC.
In another change, golfers in the stroke-play rounds Monday and Tuesday will begin on the No. 1 tee only, rather than No. 1 or No. 10. That means they will golf until it is almost dark — weather permitting — and the traditional playoff for the last few match-play berths is scheduled for 7 am Wednesday morning, rather than Tuesday night.
Folster said they aren’t starting rounds off the No. 10 tee because that is a long, downhill par-3 (that can play at more than 250 yards from the tips) and the UGA is worried about logjams there.
“We felt like it is going to get backed up to the point where once the other wave off the other side comes through, it is going to be a huge backup,” he said. “We did the math on the timing, and to avoid that makes sense.
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“Players I think enjoy it more. It is easier for staff, easier for maintenance. The tradeoff is that we are going to play until dark both days, pretty much, and so we didn’t have room for the playoff, and had to bump it to Wednesday, which we have done before. But we felt like that was a no-brainer.”
What will it take to make match play?
Wright said it was 6-over in 2012, but only 32 golfers made match play that year.
“So with 64 making match play, if the wind is blowing and there are fast greens, I mean, I would say around 12 or 13 over par,” Wright said. “With even-par now at 142, I am thinking 156, which is 14 over. That is probably reasonable considering how difficult these greens are.”
Wright said that number will drop if it rains and softens the greens up a bit.
Folster said his guess is 10-over, as he expects the state’s best amateur golfers to rise to the occasion.
For 156 golfers, they’ve already won by just getting the opportunity to play The Country Club said Justin Shluker, the 2022 Salt Lake City Amateur and Salt Lake City Open champion.
“Just stepping on the grounds here, you can feel the history,” he said. “This is a special place.”