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2024 MEN’S PLAYER OF THE YEAR: ZACH FELTS

Saying that Zach Felts became the Utah Golf Association’s Men’s Player of the Year presented by Primo by following the path of former high school teammate Boston Bracken and excelling in hometown tournaments is mostly accurate.

It’s also true that Felts thrived up and down the state and throughout the UGA calendar, collecting big points in Provo, Salt Lake City and Ogden. “I’m proud of the consistency,” he said.

Zach Felts climbed the Player Performance Rankings with big gains from making the Utah State Amateur quarterfinals and finishing second overall in the Provo Open.

Felts earned 339 points in his top 10 showings in Player Performance Rankings events to 312.91 for Park City’s Steele DeWald, who made things quite interesting in the end. DeWald jumped from No. 11 to No. 2 by reaching the round of 16 in the U.S. Mid-Amateur in Virginia, before losing in 21 holes. If he had won both that match and a 21-hole duel vs. Aidan Thain in the State Amateur’s round of 16, DeWald would have overtaken Felts. Cooper Jones, the 2021 Player of the Year, finished third (289.67); he could have won again by topping BYU teammate Cole Ponich in the State Am final match.

As it turned out, Felts’ consistency was rewarded. He’s the first active Utah Tech University golfer to become Player of the Year, although alumnus Hayden Christensen took the 2020 title and Trailblazers Coach Brad Sutterfield won in 1991 as a BYU golfer.

“I’m very proud to win this,” Felts said. “I’ve looked at the list of winners, and those are some big Utah golf names.”

The graduate of Crimson Cliffs High School, where he played with Bracken (the 2023 Player of the Year), grabbed more than half of his points in six St. George-area events. That included a win in the Bloomington Amateur. Other big gains came from making the State Am quarterfinals and finishing second overall in the Provo Open, losing to BYU’s Peter Kim in a playoff after each of them shot 65-66-71.

Zach Felts thrived up and down the state and throughout the UGA calendar, collecting big points in Provo, Salt Lake City and Ogden.

That bit of brilliance came after Felts was so discouraged during a practice round at Timpanogos Golf Club that he considered withdrawing. “I came out the next day, and just everything felt good,” he said. “That’s what golf is. It’s just day-to-day. That was a lot of fun, good memories.”

Jones ended Felts’ State Am run, avenging a 2023 defeat, but Felts still enjoyed his experience in Ogden and has carried his solid UGA play into Utah Tech’s 2024-25 schedule. While finishing second in a season-opening event hosted by Colorado State, the Trailblazers set 36- and 54-hole school scoring records.

“That kind of proved to us that we are good enough to win,” Felts said.

Like his teammates, Felts clearly is improving. His collegiate scores in September have proven that theory, and a UGA trophy provides further evidence.

 

Utah Golf Association Men’s Player of the Year feature written by Fairways Media senior writer Kurt Kragthorpe. Photography provided by Fairways Media/Randy Dodson and Triston Hartfiel.