LOGAN – A match between longtime friends and teammates Simon Kwon and Tyson Shelley would have made an epic finals match at the 127th Utah Men’s State Amateur tournament.
LOGAN – A match between longtime friends and teammates Simon Kwon and Tyson Shelley would have made an epic finals match at the 127th Utah Men’s State Amateur tournament.
Unfortunately the luck of the draw put two of Utah’s best amateurs in the same early bracket and they had to face each other in the round of 16 Thursday afternoon at Logan Country Club.
Kwon and Shelley, who will both be seniors on the BYU golf team this fall, had played together hundreds of times as junior golfers, Skyline High teammates and Cougar teammates, but only one of them could advance to Friday’s quarterfinals and it was 2023 champion Kwon who prevailed with a 3 & 2 victory.
Kwon was visibly emotional moments after the match, holding back tears as he talked about his relationship with Shelley and how difficult it was to have to play him.
“It’s hard to have to play one of your best friends early on,” he said. “He’s just a really good person – I was a groomsman at his wedding. Obviously I love winning, but it’s kind of bittersweet.”
The match was close all afternoon and Shelley actually led 1 up after the 12th hole, but Kwon ran off four straight birdies to close out the match at No 16.
Kwon will face 24-year-old John Fox, an Olympus High graduate who didn’t play college golf but will graduate from Utah Valley this year.
Fox prevented a match of former champions when he came from behind to beat 2021 champion Martin Leon 1 up by winning the final two holes.
Noah Schone, who won medalist honors Tuesday, advanced to the quarterfinals with wins over Calvin Lillywhite 7 & 6 in the morning and Tyse Boman 4 & 2 in the afternoon.
Schone will take on Jackson Shelley, who won the battle of the brothers in the morning with a 3 & 2 victory over younger brother Austin and then beat Sean Lam 5 & 4 in the afternoon.
Jackson, who is leaving for a church mission to South Korea Monday, took the early lead with birdies on two of the first three holes.
He pushed his lead to 4 up through 14 and closed out the match on 16 against Austin, who will be a senior at Skyline High.
Speaking of brother battles, Jackson and Bowen Mauss will square off in a Friday morning quarterfinal after both posted a pair of victories Thursday.
Jackson, a sophomore-to-be on the BYU golf team, won 4 & 3 over an exhausted Will Pizza, who had to go 25 holes in his round-of-16 match to beat Gavin Dosch.
Bowen, who will be a freshman at Arizona State, edged Jacob Randall 2 & 1 in his round-of-16 match.
The other quarterfinal will pit David Liechty against Jack Summerhays. Liechty, the 2023 State Am runner-up, beat last year’s semifinalist Brendan Thomas 5 & 3, while Summerhays, the 17-year-old son of former champion Daniel Summerhays, advanced with a win over Lucas Schone, the younger brother of Noah.
The matches will begin at 9:30 a.m. Friday with semifinals to follow in the afternoon. The semifinal winners will face off at 9:30 a.m. Saturday for the State Amateur title.
Source: Utah News