LOGAN \u2014 Friday night\u2019s best and most entertaining drama wasn\u2019t playing out on television screens across the state, or at plays, musicals, concerts or the like.<\/p>\n
Rather, it took place in the quarterfinals and semifinals of the 127th Utah State Amateur golf tournament, leaving in its wake a couple of college golfers who survived the grueling day at picturesque Logan Country Club to advance to Saturday\u2019s 36-hole championship match.<\/p>\n
BYU senior Simon Kwon, the champion two years ago at The Country Club in Salt Lake City, will face Arizona State freshman Bowen Mauss, a recent Corner Canyon High graduate, at 9:30 a.m. in Logan.<\/p>\n
If Saturday\u2019s action \u2014 pushed back 90 minutes to avoid heavy winds roaring down Logan Canyon \u2014 is anything like what happened Friday, spectators are in for a treat.<\/p>\n
Friday, they kind of saved the best for last \u2014 notwithstanding Noah Schone\u2019s chip-in from 60 feet away for eagle on No. 18 to upset BYU-bound Jackson Shelley 1 up in a morning quarterfinal \u2014 as Mauss outlasted 2023 runner-up David Liechty by winning four of the last five holes in an epic and memorable semifinal.<\/p>\n
Mauss won the match by making a 10-foot birdie putt from just off the 18th green, that after flirting with out of bounds right with his tee shot on the short Par 4 and then getting up and down from a gnarly lie in the deep rough.<\/p>\n
Mauss, who had downed his older brother, BYU\u2019s Jackson Mauss, 1 up in a morning quarterfinal \u2014 more on that in a bit \u2014 looked dead when Liechty went 3 up with a par on No. 13.<\/p>\n
But he rallied back, took advantage of Liechty\u2019s out-of-bounds troubles on No. 14 and a too-deep chip on No. 15 to get back in the match.<\/p>\n
A little bit of drama occurred on No. 17, with Liechty clinging to a one-hole lead. After Liechty\u2019s chip hit a tree branch and fell short of the green, his caddy and younger brother moved a twig and noticed that the ball moved ever so slightly.<\/p>\n
Liechty called the penalty on himself, and eventually conceded the hole to square the match \u2014 but only after Bowen Mauss nearly called a penalty on himself. <\/p>\n
After blasting out of a greenside bunker to within 8 feet, Mauss said he thought he might have caught some sand on his takeaway.<\/p>\n
After a lengthy conference that involved him, his brother, who was graciously caddying for him after losing to him, and several Utah Golf Association officials, it was deemed that nobody saw the sand move and no penalty was assessed.<\/p>\n
Had it been deemed that Mauss touched the sand, match play golf rules stipulate that he would have lost the hole, and therefore the match.<\/p>\n
With Liechty laying 5 and Mauss laying 3, Liechty conceded the hole and off they went to No. 18 all square. <\/p>\n
As Mauss approached the green after a masterful flop shot out of the rough, his brother told him it was \u201cmakeable, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that it was.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really hadn\u2019t made a putt all week,\u201d Mauss said.<\/p>\n
As for his brother caddying for him after losing to him earlier in the day \u2014 the second match in the 2025 State Am that pitted brothers, Jackson Shelley having downed Austin Shelley on Thursday in the Round of 16 \u2014 Bowen Mauss agreed that it was a magnanimous gesture before adding, \u201cWell, he had to stay up here anyway because he doesn\u2019t have a car.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seriously, Bowen said Jackson gave him a lot of help reading greens, which was a key to his come-from-behind win.<\/p>\n
A few moments after the heartbreaking loss, Liechty \u2014 who lost to Kwon in the 2023 final before serving a church mission \u2014 told his brother \u201cdon\u2019t beat yourself up over this\u201d and refused to dwell on the mishap in his post-match interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not sure if it was the twig or if it was just moving, but the ball kind of like oscillated a little,\u201d said Liechty, who will play for Utah Tech this fall. \u201cSo, penalty there. \u2026 It stings a little (to lose that way), but it\u2019s golf and you have to come back from it. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always next year. There\u2019s a lot of tournaments out there, so you just keep doing your best.\u201d<\/p>\n
How Simon Kwon advanced to the finals, again<\/p>\n
Kwon, the grandson of Golf Hall of Famer and former television analyst Johnny Miller, improved to an incredible 17-2 in matches in the last four State Amateurs.<\/p>\n
Kwon, who transferred from Cal to BYU after winning the 125th State Amateur, edged former Olympus High golfer John Fox 3 and 2 in a quarterfinal and then ended Schone\u2019s magical run in an afternoon semifinal that was close until Kwon went on a tear on the back nine.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a heck of a week,\u201d said Schone, a St. George business owner (he makes lithium batteries for golf carts). \u201cI am super pleased with everything, from start to finish. \u2026 I shot 67-66 and was the medalist. I made it to the semifinals and lost to a very good BYU golfer. You can\u2019t ask for much else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schone, 26, called the chip-in that eliminated Jackson Shelley \u201cprobably the No. 1 shot of my golf career. To do it on the 18th hole, the match all square, it was something I\u2019ve dreamed of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said Shelley, a BYU signee who will start a church mission to Seoul, Korea, on Monday: \u201cNothing much you can do about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kwon is known for his calm, relaxed demeanor, but showed some rare emotion when he rolled in an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 13 to go 5 up on Schone. <\/p>\n
He closed the match out on No. 14 \u2014 the old No. 5 at Logan CC \u2014 to get into his third State Am final in the past four years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just trying to keep it mellow, and then the energy just kind of kept building up, building up and building up,\u201d Kwon said, \u201cand I just kind of let it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ironically, Kwon didn\u2019t enter the State Am playing his best, and he didn\u2019t see the course until a practice round last week. He said he had a good chat with his uncle, BYU director of golf Todd Miller, after finishing \u201cdead last\u201d at the North & South Amateur in North Carolina, and was told by Miller that his game looked good and he had nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n
Turns out, uncle Miller was right.<\/p>\n
He also had a talk with his mental coach, who told him to think of three things he is grateful for whenever he gets nervous. So what are they?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m thankful for my parents. I\u2019m thankful for the opportunity to play golf and I\u2019m thankful for my Heavenly Father,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
127th Utah State Amateur<\/p>\n
At Logan Country Club<\/b><\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s Results<\/b><\/p>\n
Quarterfinal matches<\/b><\/p>\n
Noah Schone def. Jackson Shelley, 1 up<\/p>\n
Simon Kwon def. John Fox, 3 and 2<\/p>\n
Bowen Mauss def. Jackson Mauss, 1 up<\/p>\n
David Liechty def. Jack Summerhays, 3 and 1BYU<\/p>\n
Semifinal matches<\/b><\/p>\n
Simon Kwon def. Noah Schone, 6 and 4<\/p>\n
Bowen Mauss def. David Liechty, 1 up<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s Championship Match<\/b><\/p>\n
No. 1 tee, 36 holes<\/p>\n
Simon Kwon vs. Bowen Mauss, 9:30 a.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOGAN \u2014 Friday night\u2019s best and most entertaining drama wasn\u2019t playing out on television screens across the state,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":59391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[1430,1680,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-59390","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-news-feed-local","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114839908741850571","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}