Jeremy Ranch • After winning a prestigious national event, Preston Summerhays have chosen to pursue greater ambitions than attempting their third consecutive State Amateur victory.
Before reaching the round of 16 in the US Amateurs in mid-August, Carson Lundell somehow missed the deadline to enter the State Amateur.
The absence of those two big names from the 122nd State Am which begins Tuesday at Jeremy Ranch Golf & Country Club is part of the fallout from the rescheduling of the pandemic-related event, originally scheduled for late June. The field includes 144 players, down from 288 in recent years, when two fields were used for the stroke play portion of the tournament. Match play will feature 32 competitors instead of 64.
The reduced opportunities have not deterred the more than 900 golfers from trying to qualify to play at Jeremy Ranch, widely regarded as an exceptional venue for match play. And the temporary return to the traditional 32-player group should produce five rounds of great competition, even without Summerhays and Lundell.
Summerhays had plans to pursue another State Am title until he won the Sunnehanna Amateur in Pennsylvania and became a candidate for the 2021 US Walker Cup team. This week he entered an American Junior Golf Association invitation to TPC Sawgrass in Florida, chasing more World Amateur Golf Ranking points than the State Am offers. Summerhays, 18, could have become the first golfer since 1934 to win three consecutive titles.
In a text message to the Salt Lake Tribune, Summerhays praised the Utah Golf Association and said he will miss the game at Jeremy Ranch. “The UGA has done an amazing job in making the Utah State Amateur such a prestigious event,” he wrote. “Winning it will always be one of my most special memories in golf and an important part of my development as a player.”
Lundell thought he had entered State Am, but his electronic submission was not received, he told Utah Golf Radio.
The BYU golfer would be among the favorites in an event that will feature several talented college players, as usual. Kelton Hirsch, BYU’s Cole Ponich and Elijah Turner, Utah’s Mitchell Schow, Blake Tomlinson and Tristan Mandur, Utah State’s Andy Hess, and Weber State’s Hunter Howe should grapple with an event that has become more meaningful to them amid the uncertainty of college golf this fall program.
“A tournament where you can have a competitive field is a great experience, especially not knowing if you will have other opportunities,” said Hirsch, the 2017 champion.
However, longtime colleagues may not have the same advantage as other places. “The funny thing about Jeremy Ranch is that it’s not a golf course you can overwhelm,” Hirsch said. “It will also be the playing field.”
Two-time champion Jon Wright, who won last week’s Senior State Amateur at Wasatch Mountain shortly after turning 50, also loves the Jeremy Ranch design. “It will be really fun in match play, because there are some holes where with a good drive you can make an easy hole, but with a bad drive you can make a great number,” he said. “There are also many holes where driving it over 300 yards doesn’t help you. … In a way it brings more players into the game, because if the fairway ends at 300, you don’t need to hit it farther. “
Other players to watch include Hayden Christensen, the low amateur in the recent Utah Open; David Jennings, who shot a 60 at Davis Park Golf Course to win the Utah Mid-Amateur in July; and Skyline stars Tyson Shelley and Simon Kwon, who led the Eagles to team victory in a national high school tournament this summer.
Jeremy Ranch last hosted the State Am in 2004. Clark Rustand, who won the title that year when Todd Miller refused to play in Sunday’s final game, entered this week. The course was also the site of Utah’s PGA Tour Champions event from 1982 to 1992.
State Am rules require players to participate in the quarter-finals and semi-finals on Friday and the 36-hole final on Saturday. This will add to the Jeremy Ranch challenge, although the course isn’t as difficult to navigate as Soldier Hollow’s Gold Course, a frequent guest of the tournament.
