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127th Utah State Amateur: Noah Schone earns medalist honors; playoff completes bracket

Noah Schone seemed to be quite shocked when he won the Utah Golf Association’s Winterchamps event in his hometown.

Three years later, at the other end of the state, Schone sounded happy but not necessarily surprised after becoming the medalist in the 127th Utah State Amateur Championship.

He’s also hungry for more. The vice president of a company whose portfolio includes batteries for golf carts is driven to get into the walking-only portion of the competition. That comes in the quarterfinals; Schone never has advanced past the round of 16.

The St. George resident will play as the No. 1 seed in Wednesday’s round of 64 at Logan Country Club. That’s where he birdied the last two holes to post a 4-under-par 66 on Tuesday, added to his opening 67 at Eagle Mountain Golf Course in Brigham City.

A 9-for-8 playoff at Eagle Mountain completed the match-play bracket, determining Schone’s opponent: BYU golfer Angus Klintworth, who survived the playoff after shooting a second-round 81 in Logan.

The playoff contestants finished at 9 over par, an even higher number than was projected after Monday’s opening round. Tuesday’s scoring averages were 78.1 in Logan and 74.8 in Brigham City, about a stroke higher than Monday in each case.

Schone’s 7-under-par total was the same as medalist Todd Barker’s score in 1995, although only Logan CC was used for stroke play that year. He finished one shot ahead of Arizona State-bound Bowen Mauss (67-67).

Noah and his brother, Lucas, are among three sets of siblings in the bracket. They’re joined by Bowen and Jackson Mauss and Tyson, Jackson and Austin Shelley.

Noah Schone took the Winterchamps title in 2022, topping UGA veteran Dan Horner. The former Pine View High School and Utah Tech golfer said, “Honestly, I can’t wrap my head around the fact I just won.”

This week, he was just proud of the way his “smart, but aggressive” strategy worked in Logan: “I came out here, and I did just that.”

Schone is promising to be even more aggressive in match play, believing Logan CC sets up nicely for that format with its collection of short par-4 holes. He eagled the par-5 No. 12 and made five birdies. “I’m going all in,” Schone said. “I want to win this thing really bad.”

Other notable developments Tuesday:

Three great-grandsons of the late Pres Summerhays (Jack Summerhays, Cameron Summerhays and Joshua Savage) advanced to match play. Pres Summerhays competed in match play in the 1926 State Am at Forest Dale GC, so his descendants’ advancements complete a 100-tournament cycle for the family.

No. 36 seed Dan Horner (69-77) at least will extend his matches-played record to 51, taking a 34-16 mark into his duel vs. Emery Thomas. By reaching the quarterfinals, the 47-year-old Horner would tie Bill Korns’ record of 37 victories.

Brad Sutterfield (75-73), the 1992 winner, is among six former champions in the bracket and, at 56, is the oldest remaining contestant. In 1991, Jack Ridd won a State Am match 27 years after his most recent title. A match-play win for Sutterfield would come 33 years after he took the trophy. He’s the Utah Tech men’s golf coach; the Trailblazers’ Zach Felts and KJ Ofahengaue bounced back Tuesday to join him in match play.

Martin Leon, the 2021 champion, joined Roosevelt native Tytan Birchell in posting a 65 in Logan after shooting a 71 in Brigham City. Those comebacks defied the trend of the tournament, with Logan CC playing three-plus strokes harder.

There’s always a story of heartbreak on Tuesday of State Am. Cooper Nelson was this year’s case. The University of Tampa golfer from Salem bogeyed three of the last four holes at Eagle Mountain to fall into the playoff, and became the player eliminated via a bogey on the first hole.

Click here for match play Round of 64 bracket. 

Click here for the final 36-hole stroke play qualifying leaderboard.

Day 2 story written by Fairways Media senior writer Kurt Kragthorpe. Photos by Fairways Media/Randy Dodson.