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Junior America’s Cup: Utah’s Boys rally to earn medals

The 52nd staging of the Junior America’s Cup will be remembered for the Utah Junior Golf Association’s ambitious project and the host team’s comeback in the Boys competition.

Team Utah (L-R) Parker Bunn, Lance Laughton, Jaxon Erickson, Carter Papke and Captain Nate Herzog,  captured third place in the Junior Americas Cup held at Soldier Hollow Golf Course in Midway. (Photo: Fairways Media/Randy Dodson)

Utah’s Carter Papke, Jaxon Erickson, Parker Bunn and Lance Loughton received bronze medals Thursday, rewards that seemed unlikely as of the first round. And as the Closing Ceremony on Soldier Hollow Golf Course’s practice green concluded the first-ever concurrent Boys and Girls competition, UJGA Executive Director Jeff Thurman could take satisfaction in Utah’s production.

“Being the first one,” he said, “we’ve kind of written the script. It was a lot of fun. I’d do it again in a minute.”

Thurman added, “I was told when we undertook this that if you have good food and good golf, we’ll have a winner. And I think we have a winner.”

The UJGA’s host committee worked for five years to cover all the operational details, and Soldier Hollow’s staff followed through nicely. On the course, the Utah Boys team’s takeaway was more about being happy with the last two days than regretting the opening round.

Utah went from a tie for seventh place to third, 10 strokes behind the winning team, Southern California. Over the last two rounds, Southern California topped the host team by only one shot in the format that counts three of four players’ scores in each round.

“They bounced back,” Thurman said of the Utahns, “and the kids had a great time.”

Each field featured 18 teams from the western United States, Canada and Mexico, creating 72-player divisions.

Jaxon Erickson’s final round 67 helped Team Utah climb the leaderboard at Soldier Hollow. (Photo: Fairways Media/Randy Dodson)

“It was a climb, but we got there,” Papke said of Utah’s reaching the mythical podium at a Winter Olympics venue. “We clutched up when we needed to. I’d say, yeah, third place is good, for how we started. … We were able to fight back with two under-par rounds.”

In the final round on the Gold Course, Utah counted Jaxon Erickson’s 67 (the day’s low score), Papke’s 71 and Bunn’s 75 (Loughton had a 79).

Erickson’s nine-birdie adventure moved him into the top 10, completing a 77-71-67 week for the Riverton High School junior. Papke (73-69-71) tied for fifth, along with Wyoming’s Ryker Lind (72-69-72), a former Herriman High School golfer. Southern California’s Matthew Diehl shot 11 under par to win medalist honors by four strokes.

Lucas Summerhays, a grandson of Utah Golf Hall of Fame member Bruce Summerhays, played for Hawaii’s team.

In the Girls competition on the Silver Course, three players shared the title at 5 under: Mexico’s Regina Roldan, Oregon’s Melanee Udom and Hawaii’s Jasmine Wong. Arizona was the team champion, with Utah finishing 10th.

Girls Team Utah (L-R) Co-Captain Kareen Larson, Ashley Lam, Aadyn Long, Saydie Wagner, Kate Walker and C0-Captain Kay Thurman. (Photo: Fairways Media/Randy Dodson)

The Utah Girls team was 14th after the first round, then improved to 10th and stayed there in the final round, while counting 74s by Ashley Lam and Saydie Wagner, plus Kate Walker’s 75 (Aadyn Long had a 79). Wagner and Lam placed in the top 25. Lam, a Skyline High School graduate who will play for Westminster University, concluded her UJGA career at Soldier Hollow, after winning this summer’s 41st Utah State Junior Amateur in Park City.

Asked about her final junior golf appearance, Lam said, “I honestly didn’t even keep it in mind until somebody from Nevada told me, ‘Oh, it’s the end of my junior career.’ I guess it’s over, but on to the next (phase).”

Utah’s successful operation of both events at one venue may be modeled in the future, although the separate JAC and Girls JAC boards have their own rotations of hosts. Utah was due to host the Boys tournament in 2024 and the UJGA’s turn for the Girls event was coming up in a few years. Thurman and the UJGA Board of Trustees proposed this consolidation of their efforts, while maximizing Soldier Hollow.

Soldier Hollow Golf Course at Wasatch State Park proved once again to be a great host of Utah’s major championship golf events.

With a 36-hole facility, “We have that luxury,” Thurman said. “The (Gold) setup for the Boys was very tough and, for the Girls, (the Silver) was very fair, but it was still challenging.”

Bunn, who’s headed to Oklahoma State, earned a second JAC team medal. In 2022, he joined Boston Bracken, Cooper Jones and Kihei Akina in Utah’s winning effort in northern California. In 2006, future PGA Tour members Tony Finau and Zac Blair played for the most recent Utah team to host the Boys event. Finau, who tied for first place at Ogden Golf & Country Club, was the featured speaker during this week’s banquet for the teams at Soldier Hollow.

Final round recap written by Fairways Media senior writer Kurt Kragthorpe. Photography provided by Fairways Media.