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Patrick Fishburn’s Legendary Season Earns Him 2017 Player of the Year Honor

By Megan Huntsman and Kurt Kragthorpe

For the second consecutive season, the Utah Golf Association names Patrick Fishburn the 2017 UGA Men’s Player of the Year for his outstanding performances in the Siegfried & Jensen Utah Open at Riverside Country Club, the 119th Utah State Amateur Championship at Ogden Golf & Country Club, the U.S. Amateur Qualifier at Alpine Country Club and additional local championships.

Fishburn was a four-time 5A First Team All-State golf selection and won the state individual championship his senior year. In addition to his golf accomplishments, he was a named a 5A First Team All-State point guard and was named region 1 MVP. Patrick was recruited by more than 20 Division I universities before choosing Brigham Young University and making his collegiate debut in 2011 at the William H. Tucker Invitational.

After serving a two-year LDS mission in Nashville, Tennessee, Patrick returned to BYU ready to compete. Over the course of the last three years, Patrick has recorded 22 top-10 finishes, 12 top-five finishes and two collegiate individual championships. After the conclusion of his sophomore season, Patrick made the All-WCC First Team and was named West Coast Conference Co-Player of the Year.

Returning to his home course of Ogden Golf & Country Club as the defending Utah State Amateur champion, Patrick carded stroke play qualifying rounds of 63 at Hubbard Golf Course at Hill Air Force Base and 71 at Ogden to earn the No. 2 match play seed. He later defeated Nik Parcell, Nick Nelson, Stephen Lindsey and Nicklaus Britt before losing in the semi-finals to his teammate and eventual champion Kelton Hirsch 1 down.

One month later, Patrick dominated the field at the 2017 Siegfried and Jensen Utah Open by firing rounds of 63-64-63 to finish at 26 under par, breaking the all-time tournament scoring record by four shots and finishing nine shots ahead of runner-up and defending champion Zahkai Brown of Colorado, making history in the process. He became only the fifth amateur in the 91-year history to win the Utah Open title and become the small group to win the Utah State Amateur and the Utah Open.

Between Christmas and New Year’s Day, Patrick competed in the Patriot All-American Collegiate Championship held at the Wigwam Golf Course in Phoenix, Arizona. He carded a tournament low score of 64 in the final round to finish tied for second place. Patrick is currently the 16th ranked player in the country.

At the 2017 U.S. Amateur Local Qualifying, annually hosted by Alpine Country Club, Fishburn posted rounds of 65-70—135 to miss the cut by one stroke behind co-medalists Mitchell Schow and teammate Rhett Rasmussen. Nevertheless, Fishburn also captured victories at the Valley View Amateur and Golden Spike Amateur at Eagle Mountain Golf Course on his way to earning 185 total player performance ranking points and adding to his lengthy list of accomplishments during the 2017 season.