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127th Utah State Amateur: Family theme develops in Round 1

Brothers have never met in the final match of the Utah State Amateur Championship. Jackson and Bowen Mauss are in the best position to do so, and they’re just one of three sets of siblings that could conceivably make history as the 127th State Am unfolds this week. 

Jackson Mauss, a BYU golfer, took Monday’s lead in the medalist competition with a 5-under-par 65 at Logan Country Club. He’s one stroke ahead of Olympus High School senior Will Pedersen, who also played in Logan. Bowen Mauss is tied for third place with Weber State golfer Ty Anderson and St. George’s Noah Schone, whose 67s came at Eagle Mountain Golf Course in Brigham City. 

Bowen Mauss, a Corner Canyon High School graduate who’s headed to Arizona State, birdied the last three holes in Logan after carding a double bogey on No. 15. Of the top 19 players, the Mauss brothers are among six who will play the second round at Eagle Mountain, where Monday’s results suggest they should have an advantage.

A playoff, usually needed to finalize the 64-golfer bracket for match play, would be staged Tuesday evening in Brigham City. The cut number might be as high as 8 over par. 

If match play started now, the Mauss brothers would be joined in the bracket by three Shelley brothers (Tyson, Jackson and Austin), two Schone brothers (Noah and Lucas) and four members of the extended Summerhays family (cousins Jack, Cameron and Coulson Summerhays, plus Joshua Savage). 

The Mausses are distant relatives of the late Jon Mauss, the 1965 State Am champion. Jackson Mauss made eight birdies Monday, doing “a good job of keeping the ball in play,” he said. “My driver was my strength; I also hit my wedges really well and made a couple good putts. If you get out of position, that course can be penalizing.”

Bowen Mauss made seven birdies. Pedersen was the steadiest player among the leaders. The recent winner of the Utah Junior Golf Association’s annual match-play event, Pedersen made only one bogey. No current members of the University of Utah golf team entered this year’s tournament; Pedersen is committed to the Ute program, though.

Among former champions, 2008 winner Dan Horner (69 at Eagle Mountain) and 2013 winner Cole Ogden (69 at Logan CC) posted Monday’s best scores.

Click here for the 36-hole stroke play leaderboard.

Story written by Fairways Media senior writer Kurt Kragthorpe. Photos by Fairways Media/Randy Dodson & Garrit Johnson.