State Amateur: Defending champ Zac Jones of BYU survives first-round match play scare
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After hitting his tee shot into the penalty area left of the fairway on the 18th hole at The Country Club of Salt Lake City on Wednesday in a tied match, defending champion Zac Jones figured he needed a “miracle shot” to avoid a major upset and an early departure in the 125th Utah State Amateur.
Instead, the rising junior at BYU got what he acknowledged was a “lucky break,” as Round of 64 opponent Tate McVay was dealt an unfortunate blow that led to a double-bogey and what the Vernal resident (by way of South Dakota) called “just a brutal finish.”
“It definitely is a wake-up call. It can also be a momentum boost to feel some nerves and win a tight match early on so now when I face that later this week it will be something I have done this week already.” — BYU golfer and defending State Am champion Zac Jones
So Jones, 22, who pretty much breezed to the title last year at Soldier Hollow with relatively easy wins in all six matches, moves on to Thursday’s Round of 32 matches, but not without adding a few gray hairs to his father and caddie Clark’s head.
“It definitely is a wake-up call,” Zac Jones said. “It can also be a momentum boost to feel some nerves and win a tight match early on, so now when I face that later this week it will be something I have done this week already.”
McVay, 27, a medical sales rep who played collegiately at West Texas A&M, seemingly had the advantage when both golfers hit their approaches about 40 feet right and below the 18th green, with Jones sitting at 3 and McVay sitting at 2.
However, Jones got up and down for bogey, while McVay’s chip rolled into some rough above the hole and stuck there, rather than roll back closer to the hole, as he had planned.
He had no chance of stopping his fourth shot anywhere near the hole, then missed the 20-footer coming back and Jones had the win.
“It hung up there,” McVay said. “Sometimes you have luck, sometimes you don’t. … Seeing him hit into the hazard on 18, I was licking my chops. But that’s golf. What do you do?”
McVay led 1 up after a birdie on 13, but Jones answered with birdies on 14 and 15 to go 1 up. Then McVay eagled the par-5 17th hole (Jones made birdie) to even the match, and looked to be in command when his tee shot on 18 was a bit short but in the middle of the fairway.
“I had 7-iron in my hand. There is no need to miss it 40 yards right,” McVay said. “I just thought it would turn over, but for some reason it flared to the right.”
Jones wasn’t ready to call the up-and-down one of the best sequences of his golfing life, but he didn’t downplay the feat, either.
“As far as difficulty and nerves, I mean, that is as much nerves as you are going to feel and as much pressure as you are going to feel, so definitely one of my better shots.
“It was a difficult up-and-down from the rough against a tucked pin on these greens, so definitely one of the top up-and-downs I’ve had.”
It was a 1-2 day for the Jones family, as brothers Cooper and Tyler lost close matches, with BYU-bound younger brother Cooper falling in 19 holes to Zach Felts and older brother Tyler losing to Elliot Bond.
Stroke-play medalist Peter Kim, a Skyline High product who has also signed to play for BYU, rolled past Eli Rogers, 6 and 5.
First-round leader and No. 2 seed Davis Johnson, a 20-year-old University of Utah golfer from Scottsdale, Arizona, lost 2 and 1 to seasoned amateur David Jennings in a tight match.
“At the end, I was able to play a little more steady than him,” said Jennings, a 38-year-old air traffic controller who works graveyard shifts six days a week and plays golf afterward.
Jennings needed to survive an eight-way playoff for the last two match play berths on Wednesday morning.
He and the aforementioned Rogers advanced, while Peter Ouimette also made it to the second playoff hole, the downhill par-3 10th hole, but made a double-bogey after an errant tee shot and was eliminated.
“It was terrible (to be in the playoff),” Jennings said. “Yeah, I wasn’t feeling too good about my game because I felt like I played as badly as I could have and was pretty bummed that I had to be in the playoff.
“But I had a lot of people text me and were much more positive and said, ‘Hey, you are still in it.’”
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“If I play my game, I have a shot,” Jennings said. “I just need to get out of my own way, and then I think I will be tough to beat. When I feel like I am on, I feel like I can beat anybody.”
One of the pre-tournament favorites, University of Utah golfer Braxton Watts, 21, continued his upward trend with a 3 and 1 win over Will Blanchard.
A Farmington High product, Watts shot an 80 in Monday’s first round of stroke play, then recovered nicely with a smooth little 66 on Tuesday.
“I feel like I have a really good chance to win it, just with how the course lays out and how much we get to play it. That’s a big advantage,” Watts said.
“I think I just need to take advantage of it and play well. I think I have a really good chance to get far this week.”
The field will be whittled from 32 to eight on Thursday, with Round of 32 matches beginning at 7:30 a.m. and quarterfinal matches slated for the afternoon.
Some interesting matches to watch Thursday morning include Kim against current BYU player Keanu Akina; 2021 State Am champ Martin Leon (a former Utah golfer who is transferring to Rutgers) vs. Salt Lake City Amateur champ Sean Lampropoulos; And Brigham Gibbs against 2008 champion Dan Horner, who needed 21 holes Wednesday to oust Yinxuan Wu.
Wednesday’s Round of 64 match play results
Upper bracket
Peter Kim def. Eli Rogers, 6 and 5
Keanu Akina def. Reed Nielsen, 2 and 1
David Liechty def. Charlie Taylor, 6 and 5
Caysen Wright def. Lance Smith, 1 up
Elijah Turner def. Jack Kuemmel, 2 up
Parker Bunn def. Aidan Thain, 3 and 2
Zach Felts def. Cooper Jones, 19 holes
Jesper von Reedtz def. Lincoln Markham, 4 and 2
Oscar Mayfield def. Noah Moody, 3 and 2
Rand Sargent def. Steven Croft, 2 and 1
Martin Leon def. Luke Crapo, 2 and 1
Sean Lampropoulos def. Michael Blackham, 1 up
Cameron Crawford def. Gavin Dosch, 4 and 3
Andrew Cottle def. Tyson Lund, 2 and 1
Tanner Telford def. Thomas Young, 4 and 3
Bowen Mauss def. Ryan Barber, 3 and 2
Lower bracket
David Jennings def. Davis Johnson, 2 and 1
Josh Howe def. Jordan Rodgers, 4 and 3
Brandon Robison def. Jake Griffin, 6 and 4
Justin Shluker def. John Cook, 4 and 3
Simon Kwon def. Ryan Bromley, 5 and 4
Devin Tovey def. Rashon Williams, 2 and 1
Braxton Watts def. Will Blanchard, 3 and 1
Leo Torres def. Darrin Overson, 1 up
Zac Jones def. Tate McVay, 1 up
Kenny Palmer def. Tyler Demasi, 4 and 3
Elliot Bond def. Tyler Jones, 3 and 2
Brendan Thomas def. Brennan Coburn, 5 and 4
Ryker Dunkley def. Hayden Banz, 1 up
Peyton Hastings def. Jeremy Hymas, 3 and 1
Brigham Gibbs def. Steele DeWald, 19 holes
Dan Horner def. Yinxuan Wu, 21 holes
Thursday’s Round of 32 matches
7:30 a.m. — Peter Kim vs. Keanu Akina
7:39 a.m. — David Liechty vs. Caysen Wright
7:48 a.m. — Elijah Turner vs. Parker Bunn
7:57 a.m. — Zach Felts vs. Jesper von Reedtz
8:06 a.m. — Oscar Mayfield vs. Rand Sargent
8:15 a.m. — Martin Leon vs. Sean Lampropoulos
8:24 a.m. — Cameron Crawford vs. Andrew Cottle
8:33 a.m. — Tanner Telford vs. Bowen Mauss
8:42 a.m. — David Jennings vs. Josh Howe
8:51 a.m. — Brandon Robison vs. Justin Shukler
9 a.m. — Simon Kwon vs. Devin Tovey
9:09 a.m. — Braxton Watts vs. Leo Torres
9:18 a.m. — Zac Jones vs. Kenny Palmer
9:27 a.m. — Elliot Bond vs. Brendan Thomas
9:36 a.m. — Ryker Dunkley vs. Peyton Hastings
9:45 a.m. — Brigham Gibbs vs. Dan Horner
