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Utah Four-Ball Championship: Mike Jorgensen – Randy Hicken win a record 28-hole match
Randy Hicken and Mike Jorgensen won Nos. 14 and 15 to tie Steven Borget and Dan Hatch in a Super-Senior semifinal match of the Utah Four-Ball Championship. They couldn’t have known the contest would stay tied for the next 12 holes at Gladstan Golf Course in Payson.
Only when Jorgensen made a 25-foot birdie putt and Borget and Hatch each missed from inside that distance did the match end on the 28th hole, the par-4 No. 10. The 10 extra holes is believed to be a Utah Golf Association record, topping Tod Budge’s 27-hole win over Matt Johnson in the 1988 State Amateur’s round of 16 at Oakridge Country Club.
“It was kind of crazy,” Hicken said. “We just kind of matched each other shot for shot the whole front nine.”
In the Super-Senior bracket, match play began with the semis. Defending champions Rick Lloyd-Paul Cannon topped Karl Avant-Todd Kartchner 4 and 3 and will meet Hicken-Jorgensen in a rematch of the 2023 final.
Three of the At-Large division matches also went to extra holes Wednesday. The brother duo of Cooper Jones-Tyler Jones outlasted Thomas Young-Bryce Till in 21 holes in the round of 16. In the quarterfinals, Henry Poulton-Brandon Pearson beat Danny Hafen-Rand Sargent in 20 holes and two-time winners Dan Horner-Darrin Overson defeated 2022 champions Andrew Cottle-Peyton Hastings in 21 holes.
Two other notable results had spiced the round of 16. Three-time champions David Jennings-Ryan Brimley fell to Poulton-Pearson, 1 up. No. 2-seeded Kenny Palmer-Steele Dewald lost 3 and 2 to Hafen-Sargent.
The Jones brothers will meet high school juniors Jack Summerhays (Farmington) and Austin Shelley (Skyline) in Thursday morning’s semifinals. Cooper Jones, the State Amateur runner-up in July, is playing in his last UGA event prior to a church mission to Peru.
In the Senior division finals, Jon Wright-Brigham Gibbs will face Matthew Lyons-Fred Larsen, who beat Tim Golder-Jeff Jolley in 20 holes of the semis. Wright-Gibbs won At-Large titles in 2017 and ‘18. Lyons teamed with Shane McMillan to win the last two Senior championships.
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Day 1 tournament recap written by Fairways Media senior writer, Kurt Kragthorpe. Fairways Media file photo by Randy Dodson.