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Blair Shoots 60 at Northern Utah Am; Web.com Next Up

Blair Shoots 60 at Northern Utah Am, Web.com Next UpBy Shawn Harrison Conditions were nearly perfect Saturday at the Logan Golf & Country Club.And a number of golfers took full advantage at the annual Northern Utah Amateur. Red numbers were plentiful among the 175 that participated.But no one went as low as Zac Blair. The former BYU golfer was in a zone. He carded an 11-under-par 60 to win by five strokes. Those in his group felt he could have even been lower. A chunk shot on No. 8 was the difference from possibly shooting a 59.”I just had everything kind of going,” Blair said. “I was hitting it good and made a few putts.”Yes, he did.It was just the third time Blair has played the course, which he said “was in perfect shape.” There were a pair of 65s in the morning group. Blair played in the afternoon.”I heard a few people shot mid-60s,” Blair said. “I just tried to go out and have fun and play good. Things worked out.”He eagled the par-5 first hole and had nine birdies during the rest of his round. He is headed to the Web.com Tour event stop in Salt Lake City beginning Wednesday at Willow Creek Country Club. Two other Utahns, Dusty Fielding and Zach Johnson are also in the field.
Finishing five behind Blair were Tanner Higham, Cole Ogden and Dylan Hardy. That trio fired 65s. Hardy won the net with a 60.”It’s finally good to shoot way low,” said Hardy, who has played in the tournament before, carding a low of 71.Hardy began his day on No. 12 with a par. The Hyde Park native was able to par all of the par-3 holes on the day. But a strong finish put him among the leaders as he birdied four of his five holes.”The hole looks like a five-gallon bucket sometimes and sometimes it looks like a shot glass,” Hardy said. “… I just tried to keep it going after a good start. The course was great, it was perfect weather and the pins were in getable places.”Despite his best round at the course, Hardy, who played in the morning, predicted his score would not hold up.”There’s some good college golfers up here, including Zac Blair,” Hardy said. “… Hopefully, it holds up, but we’ll see.”Ogden, who is from Syracuse, had not played the LG&CC in seven years. He has been having a good summer and it carried over to Saturday.”I hit it awesome today and played well, but missed on a lot of birdie chances,” Ogden said. “… The greens were in good shape, so good scores were out there.”Other than a bogey on his first hole – the par-4 ninth – Ogden played a solid round. Three birdies in a row helped him swing the momentum in a positive direction.Higham, who will be a senior on the Utah State golf team this fall, struggled to begin his round. Then he got it going with four birdies in a row, starting on No. 5.”I was glad to get some of those (birdies) to go in,” Higham said. “The greens were really great. … It helps that I’ve played here a lot.”A pair of Aggie golfers tied for fourth in gross in Brennan Coburn and Seokwon Jeon. Both turned in 66s and will be sophomores at USU this fall.”I got off to a slow start and was even through nine holes,” Coburn said. “Not bad through the last nine. … It was a great day, fun. A beautiful day. I liked it.”Unlike Coburn’s start, Jeon began his day with two birdies. Then he strung together a bunch of pars.”I left a lot of putts out there that I could have easily made,” Jeon said.That was a theme among many golfers, including Higham.”I missed four easy birdie putts, Higham said.Cache Valley native Nate Nyman tied for sixth at 67. An eagle on his second hole – the par-5 14th – got him going.”I hit it well today and had my chances,” Nyman said. “I had two stupid bogeys.”He hadn’t practiced much lately as he was resting up for the State Amateur, which begins Monday. He hopes his round Saturday is a sign of good things to come this upcoming week.Local golfer Lance Williams and his brother-in-law Joey Olson, who played collegiately at Utah Valley, both carded 69s. It was the first time they have played together in a tournament.”We didn’t want to one-up each other,” Williams quipped. “… I eagled one, then got a seven on seven. That was the killer or I would have been better off. The seven bit me with a seven.””It was fun playing up here, it was my first time,” Olson said. “We wanted to beat each other, but we tied.”There were several high school golfers in the tournament, including Henry Leng, who tied for sixth with his 67. The Granger High senior-to-be is thinking about becoming an Aggie.”I really like this course, it was fun,” Leng said. “… I should have been lower. I had birdie putts that were makeable. I could have been a lot lower if I made some putts. But it’s OK, anything under par is good.”Reigning Country Club champion Bob Underwood held his own with the younger golfers. He carded a 70.”I started kind of slow, but it was a steady round,” Underwood said. “I made two long putts and hit it close. … People really like this course and turn out for this tournament.”Many golfers made it a point to point out how good the condition of the course was in. That made those in charge smile.”The greens were good,” LG&CC head professional Dan Roskelley said. “Our superintendent did a wonderful job.”That would be Paul Stokes.”This was our best year ever,” LG&CC assistant professional Dean Johansen said.
The winning scores were as follows;

Gross
60- Zac Blair
65- Tanner Higham, Cole Ogden
66- Brennan Coburn, Seokown Jeon
67- Nate Nyman, Mike Jurca, Henry Leng, Jordan Rodgers
68- Nick Summers, Charley Parson
69- Nate Herzog, Lance Williams, Ben McGregor, Joey Olson
70- Ike Tingey, Chick Lignell, Pete Bennett, Jason Struck, Jason Wight
71- Kirk Jensen, Jake Peterson, Kevin Peterson, Colton Dallimore, Ryan Pugsley
Net
60- Dylan Hardy
63- Blake Scheele
64- Vince Lafferty
65- Derek Jones, Scott Stokes
66- Preston Henrie, Brent Nickerson, Tekl Hipwell, Psencer Olsen, David Simmons, Heath Stahle, Blair Wilding
67- Jordan Curtis, Michael Gibbs, Greg Jensen, Mark Larsen, Dan Peterson, Scott Porter, Dennis Stubbs, Bridger Layton, Scott Hipwell, Lester Perry, Randy Spencer
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