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Age Verse Experience: The Round of 16 Proves Both Work

(Photo of Andy Hess during round of 16 match with Riley Morgan)

By Beaux Yenchik, UGA Intern

Fruit Heights, UT – A plethora of experience and age are what one would find if they were to glance at the leaderboard Thursday evening ahead of the quarterfinal matches.

For a tournament that was so heavily dominated early-on by the student-athlete generation, has eventually ran its course only to find an equal balance of players twice the age of those younger in the field. The “Sweet 16” was eventful as the level of competition has picked up with the title of State Amateur Champion resting on the horizon. Some matches ended up being quick while others forced a marathon-like atmosphere by taking it the full 18 and even beyond – rounding out for an exciting last few rounds.

Blake Tomlinson, the overall No. 1 seed, made short work of the No. 49-seed Tyler Herzog, going 4&3. Herzog, who had been on quite the run himself, just didn’t have enough in the tank as he watched Tomlinson play bogey-free golf – Tomlinson only has two recorded bogeys for the week.

(Photo of Blake Tomlinson on the par-3 15th)

“I just hit some really good shots today and got it close,” Tomlinson said. “I made a lot of birdies … He battled it out to the end, but I ended up on top.”

John Owen, the veteran of the remaining eight players, has flown under the radar when it has come to playing exceptionally well, having yet to see holes 17 and 18 in match play, Owen jumped out to an early lead over Zack Neff, winning hole No. 1.

Owen, with his foot all the way down on the gas pedal, cruised to being up as many as six through just his first seven holes. After giving just a couple back, Owen continued to feed off his successful play to win the match, 4&3.

Apparently former champion Darrin Overson enjoys the winning outcome of 4&3 because he did it for a third straight match over SUU Thunderbird Fidel Concepcion. Overson, a former State Amateur Champion, has done this before, the grueling grind of playing so much golf in such a short period of time.

With Concepcion coming off a grueling matching in the round of 32 against Cody Anderson – having lasted 19 holes – Overson jumped on the opportunity to take it to his possibly tired opponent. Though not a perfect scorecard by any means, Overson managed his mistakes just a little better and stopped anything from getting out of hand.

Dan Horner, the other remaining former State Amateur champion, was taken to the wire by Austin Jaramillo. Being down three with four holes to play was just not quite enough holes to allow Jaramillo the complete comeback he was hoping for.

(Photo of Dan Horner in “Sweet 16” match)

Horner relied on past experience to claim the match, 1 up.

Here is a complete list of pairings for Friday’s quarterfinals:

Blake Tomlinson (1) v. John Owen (24)
Kyler Dunkle (4) v. Darrin Overson (12)
Andy Hess (31) v. Preston Summerhays (23)
Jayce Frampton (3) v. Dan Horner (22)

The first match will tee off Friday morning at 7 a.m. at Oakridge Country Club.

For complete results of the round of 16 and live scoring for the quarterfinals, CLICK HERE.