Dave's Adventures: State AM at Soldier Hollow

This past week, the 113th Utah State AM was held at Soldier Hollow gold course in Midway. I decided to pull my trailer up to Wasatch State Park and camp out instead of commuting each day. I don't know if that was a smart idea but it was nice and cool each night with rain. Raylene came up Thursday afternoon and Friday evening we had our weekly date night. We went to Claim Jumper restaurant in Heber. It was nice to have the wife join me even though I was not able to spend too much time with her.

The tournament consisted of ten qualifiers throughout the State. 633 players battled for 288 spots to be played on Wednesday and Thursday (18-hole stroke play) at Soldier Hollow. Of those 288 players only 32 would advance to match play Friday. Play on Wednesday and Thursday were on both the silver and gold courses. It took a combined score of 145 (+1) to qualify. We did have a playoff with 16 players competing for three spots. With a 35-minute lighting delay, players finished in the dark. The maintenance crew was prepared to light up the 3rd hole with all their vehicles but it wasn't needed.

After the Champions Breakfast Friday morning, the 36-hole match play began for the 32 players with half being eliminated each round. I had the assignment of following John Busby around for both Friday and Saturday. In the quarterfinal match, I watched Jeff Evans come from three down to beat John Busby. Jeff later went on to win the tournament 8&7 over Stratton Schultz.

The weather was a mix of sun, rain, lighting, wind, and heat but it was a fun tournament. Steve and his crew had the course in great shape and if you did not keep your ball in the fairway, you paid a price since the prairie grass was very tall and thick this year. I enjoyed some of the flowers since there were a variety of colors. It was a fun week and the only changes I would make would be to have a flatter course so that spectators could walk instead of having a million carts on the course.

On a side note, the Spartan Race was going on at the Olympic Park on Saturday. The announcer was quite loud. I think someone called and had them turn down the mic. I could not believe all the people that came to that event. Unbelievable!