Latest news with #PrestonSummerhays
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
These Utahns qualified to play in next week's U.S. Open on Monday
FILE — Zac Blair hits from the fairway on the 13th hole during the first round of the U.S. Open Thursday, June 13, 2024, in Pinehurst, N.C. | Matt York, Associated Press The state of Utah will be well-represented next week in the 2025 U.S. Open at famed Oakmont Country Club in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. Former BYU golfer Zac Blair qualified for the event June 12-15 by surviving a four-man playoff for one spot at a final U.S. Open qualifying site in Springfield, Ohio. After shooting a 4-under 136 on Monday, the current Orem resident outlasted amateur John Peterson and pros Kurt Kitayama and Dawson Armstrong for the fourth available spot. Advertisement It was the third time Blair has qualified for the U.S. Open in Springfield; He will play in his fourth U.S. Open, having tied for 26th last year at Pinehurst No. 2 course in North Carolina. Meanwhile, former Utahn Preston Summerhays, an Arizona State golfer who grew up in Farmington, was medalist in the Valencia, California, qualifying site, firing a phenomenal 10-under 132 on Monday at Valencia Country Club. Summerhays, the son of former PGA Tour player Boyd Summerhays, shot a final-round 63 to clear the field by three shots. He was the 2018 and 2019 Utah State Amateur champion and competed in the U.S. Open previously in 2020 and 2021. A couple of other Utahns didn't fare as well in California. Korn Ferry Tour regular Daniel Summerhays (Preston's uncle) shot an even-par 142 and tied for 14th, missing the cut for a playoff by four shots. Advertisement Lone Peak High graduate Kihei Akina, one of the top junior golfers in the country and a BYU golf signee, also shot a 142 at Valencia and missed the cut by four shots. Another BYU product who is a PGA Tour golfer and tried to qualify Monday is Patrick Fishburn, an Ogden native. Fishburn got off to a great start with an opening-round 68 at Lambton Golf & Country Club in Ontario, Canada, but posted a 73 in his afternoon round and missed the seven-player cut by seven shots. Salt Lake City's Tony Finau will also play in the U.S. Open, for the 11th straight year. Finau tied for third last year at Pinehurst, shooting 4-under 276 in the event won by Bryson DeChambeau.
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
U.S. Open golf: Utahns, like almost everybody else, have rough day at ultra-tough Oakmont
Zac Blair hits from the 12th fairway during the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) | Charlie Riedel It was not a good day for the three golfers with Utah ties at the 125th U.S. Open on Thursday, but at least PGA Tour stalwart Tony Finau ended it well. Finau made a birdie on No. 17 and then rolled in a 41-foot putt to save par on No. 18 at Oakmont Country club. Advertisement Finau finished at 6-over 76, while former BYU golfer Zac Blair led the Utah contingent with a 4-over 74. Preston Summerhays, who was born in Farmington and twice won the Utah State Amateur, carded a 78 in one of his first tournaments playing as a professional. Blair was tied for 62nd, Finau was tied for 99th and Summerhays was tied for 124th with just a few golfers left on the course. All three will have a difficult time making the cut after Friday's second round, but it is not like anybody is running away with the tournament after the first round. American J.J. Spaun shot Thursday's best round, a 4-under 66, while Thriston Lawrence of South Africa is alone in second place at -3. Playing in his fourth U.S. Open, Blair started well with a birdie on the par-4 10th hole, his first. But the Ogden native who currently lives in Orem mostly struggled from there, picking up only one other birdie in his round. Advertisement He made a 3 on the par-4 2nd hole, which got him to +1 on the day. He made a 17-foot putt for the birdie, two days after his 122-yard putt from the fairway on No. 1 in a practice round went viral. However, he followed that picker-upper with a bogey on No. 3, and finished the long day with bogeys on 8 and 9 to finish at 4-over 74. Blair, who tied for 26th last year at Pinehurst No. 2, is in danger of missing the U.S. Open cut for the first time since 2019 at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Finau is playing in his 10th U.S. Open, and is in danger of missing the cut at the national championship for the first time since 2022 at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. Advertisement Finau made a double bogey on the second hole and a triple bogey on the 10th hole, basically ruining his round, and his tournament, with those two costly holes. He finished well, though, making a birdie on No. 17 after driving into a greenside bunker on the 327-yard par 4. He chipped out nicely and made the 8-footer for the birdie. On No. 18, Finau blasted his shot out of some gnarly greenside rough far from the hole, but drained the long putt to stay within 10 shots of the leader. Like Blair, Summerhays also made a birdie on hole No. 2, but unfortunately for the recent Arizona State graduate that was one of only two birds he made Thursday. He stuck his approach from 75 yards out to 10 feet, and made the putt. Advertisement On the difficult par-3 8th hole, Summerhays made a 2 by sinking a 19-footer. Summerhays struggled on the two par-5s, making a bogey on No. 4 and a double bogey on No. 12, the 618-yard beast that caused a lot of trouble on Thursday. An errant tee shot that found Oakmont's long rough right of the fairway was the original culprit, followed by another tough shot out of deep grass just 79 feet from the hole. Summerhays will tee off from No. 1 at 4:56 a.m. MDT Friday, while Finau will go off No. 10 at 6:13 a.m. MDT. Blair will go off No. 1 at 10:30 a.m. MDT.
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
U.S. Open: Tony Finau steadies himself late in 2nd round, makes cut
Tony Finau plays his ball on the 10th hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)1eC | Carolyn Kaster Tony Finau was leaking oil in his quest to make the cut at the 125th U.S. Open. The Lehi resident and Salt Lake City native bogeyed three straight holes — 6, 7 and 8, having started his second round Friday on the No. 10 tee — and was in serious danger of not being able to play on the weekend at Oakmont Country Club on the outskirts of Pittsburgh. Advertisement But Finau recovered nicely, saving par on the 465-yar par-4 9th hole, the fourth-most difficult hole on the course, with a 5-foot putt to shoot an even-par 70. Finau is at +6 and tied for 45th heading into Saturday's third round. With the cut coming at +7, the other golfers in the 156-player field with Utah ties saw their tournaments come to an end. Former BYU golfer Zac Blair was in striking distance of making the cut after shooting a 74 on Thursday, but he shot 77 Friday and is heading back home to Orem, assuming he doesn't stay in the East and visit The Tree Farm, a course he designed in South Carolina. Advertisement Former Farmington resident Preston Summerhays, who just turned pro after finishing a spectacular college career at Arizona State, shot an 80 on Friday and tumbled farther down the leaderboard. Sam Burns leads the tournament at -3 after carding a 65 on Friday, the best single-round score of the tournament to date. Only three players are under par midway through the national championship. First-round leader J.J. Spaun added a 72 to the 66 he shot in Round 1 and is alone in second place. Viktor Hovland is in third place at -1, having shot a 68 on Friday. Finau has made the cut in two straight majors, having tied for 19th place at the PGA Championship last month at Quail Hollow in North Carolina. He's made the cut in three straight U.S. Opens and six of 10. Other notables at +6 are Masters champion Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele.
