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Sand Hollow Leavitt Group Open Returns to the Utah Golf Calendar

Two-time defending champion Taylor Montgomery is looking for a three-peat at Sand Hollow Resort Championship Course. 

(September 9, 2021) Hurricane, Utah – The seventh playing of the Sand Hollow Leavitt Group Open will begin Thursday on the Championship Course at Sand Hollow Resort. Two-time defending champion Taylor Montgomery, fresh off his just completed Korn Ferry Tour season, where he is fully exempt for the 2021-22 season, will tee off at 10:56 a.m. on the Championship Course. 

Utah favorites in the field this year include 2020 Utah Open champion and former BYU golfer Peter Kuest, 2020 Utah State Amateur champion, now professional, Mitchell Schow, 2018 Utah Open champion Dusty Fielding and former University of Utah golfer Brandon Kida, who shot a round of (-8) 64 earlier in the week during a fundraising tournament, part of the overall Sand Hollow Open Golf Week. Colorado resident and current Utah Open champion Derek Fribbs is also in the field. 

Over 80 players have entered the tournament and will compete for the $20,000 first place check. After a 36-hole cut on Friday, the final round will be played Saturday, Sept. 11th. 

Perhaps the most intriguing player with Utah ties in the field this year is Peter Kuest. After having his senior year at BYU disrupted by the global pandemic, Kuest turned professional and had a handful of sponsor exemption starts in PGA TOUR tournaments in early 2020 with little success. Kuest returned to Riverside Country Club, BYU’s home course, for last year’s Utah Open where he turned in a dominating performance to win Utah’s historic open event as a rookie professional. 

Fast forward to Kuest’s 2021 season where he had another handful of sponsor exemption starts on the European Tour’s rookie league, The Challenge Tour, again without enough success to gain a Tour card. 

Sand Hollow Director of Golf Adam Jasperson said, “Peter Kuest is a perfect example of why we, along with the title sponsor Leavitt Group’s, Mark Leavitt, created this tournament. We saw a need for a tournament, with a good purse, for players that are trying to stay in tournament condition as they head into the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying tournament season.” 

Kuest will attempt to earn his way on to next season’s Korn Ferry Tour through the qualifying process which begins next week with First Stage Qualifying at SunRiver Golf Club in Bloomington, Utah. 

“Hopefully I can go out and play well and win and then go to Second Stage, play well there and get to the final stage. Those kinds of things are in the back of my mind but at the same time I’m just worried about playing well now. I can’t really worry about what’s going to happen. If I just take care of what I can take care of now, I’ll be set up for the future.”

The Sand Hollow Leavitt Group Open tees off Thursday morning at 8:00 a.m. on the Championship Course at Sand Hollow Resort. 

Sand Hollow Leavitt Group Open Past Champions:

2014 Tyler Alderidge

2015 Zac Blair

2016 Zac Blair

2017 Tom Whitney

2018 Taylor Montgomery

2019 Taylor Montgomery

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Randy Dodson, Fairways Media (801) 360-2440

Photo: Peter Kuest preps for his run at a Korn Ferry Tour Q-School First Stage at this week’s Sand Hollow Leavitt Group Open at Sand Hollow Resort in Hurricane, Utah. 

Photo Credit: Fairways Media/Randy Dodson