Monday qualifier Richey co-leads Utah Championship after 18


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LEHI — Brian Richey didn’t know he’d be in the Web.com Tour’s Utah Championship until this week’s round of Monday qualifiers.

The conditional Web.com Tour player is definitely in it now.

Richey carded a 7-under-par 64 to co-lead the tournament after Thursday’s opening round at Thanksgiving Point Golf Club in Lehi. The native Floridian is tied with Pete Tomasulo atop the leaderboard, two shots up on 12 golfers who finished at 5-under after the first 18 holes.

“Every Monday qualifier for the past 4-5 weeks, I’ve shot some low scores,” Richey said. “Now it’s nice to do it in the first round of a Web event; it’s been a while since I did that.

“I’ve gotten a couple of starts early, and didn’t do much with them.”

Despite squeezing into the field via a Monday qualifier, Richey had a good feeling about the tournament early. Teeing off late on the back nine, he dropped an eagle on the par-5, 678-yard 11th hole, then added birdies on Nos. 13, 14 and 15 to take a 5-under 31 into the turn.

He teed off with a three-wood on No. 11 and stroked his shot within six feet for an easy roll for eagle, then used a three-wood to set up birdie on No. 13 and start his run.

“These are some of the best conditions I’ve ever seen for an afternoon out here,” Richey said. “This was nice.”

Richey opened his second nine-hole challenge with three-straight birdies, gave a shot back with bogey on the par-3 seventh, but finished his round with a two-putt for par on the par-4 ninth to finish tied for the lead.

Riley Arp, left, and Tom Whitney shake hands during the Utah Championship at Thanksgiving Point Golf Course in Lehi on Thursday, July 21, 2016. (Photo: Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)
Riley Arp, left, and Tom Whitney shake hands during the Utah Championship at Thanksgiving Point Golf Course in Lehi on Thursday, July 21, 2016. (Photo: Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)

“I knew if I could keep hitting good shots and put the ball in the fairway, I’d have a fair chance to get some birdies and get off to good start,” Richey added. “It was definitely nice to start hot, but I wasn’t trying to think too much about it. There’s a lot of golf left.”

A virtually wind-free day was broken up by a microburst around 7 p.m. MDT that halted play for five minutes. Tomasulo was walking up the fairway on the 18th hole when a strong gust of wind arrived, knocking down sponsors’ tents, rattling TV towers and threatening to move the electronic scoreboards on each hole.

After a delay, play resumed at 6:53 p.m., and Tomasulo finished out his one-bogey round with a short par-putt on the 18th green.

“That was wild; I really thought this grandstand was going down,” he said. “The scoreboard was up on two legs, and I’m glad we were going into the wind when it happened.

“As we walked up (to the green), I think it started blowing close to 50 miles per hour for a minute.”

Web.com Tour UTAH CHAMPIONSHIP
Thursday's Top 15
T1 (64) Pete Tomasulo, Brian Richey.
T3 (66) Rick Lamb, Ollie Schniederjans, Andrew Putnam, Alex Prugh, Adam Long, Byron Smith, Drew Weaver, Tom Whitney, Riley Arp, Trey Mullinax, Matt Harmon, John Rollins.
T15 (67) Ryan Spears, Kyoung-Hoon Lee, Scott Gardiner, Stephan Jaeger, Austin Cook, Marc Turnsa, Adam Svensson, Nicholas Lindheim, Adam Schenk, Josh Geary, Charlie Danielson. Local golfers:
T99 (72) Matt Baird, B.J. Staten.
T136 (74) Jordan Rodgers, Steele DeWald.
154 (78) Marcus Burbank.

After opening at 3-under with an eagle on No. 2, Tomasulo stroked back-to-back birdies to finish the front nine at 5-under 30 to tie for the lead at the time. The Long Beach, California, native who currently calls Texas home had three birdies on the back but balanced it with a bogey on the par-3, 218-yard 15th hole for his 7-under first-round score.

His putter also saved him several pars, and then Tomasulo stroked a wedge shot within four feet on No. 13 to start a run of three birdies over the next four holes to help preserve a two-shot advantage on the pack.

“I played really solid,” Tomasulo said. “I had just a couple of bad shots, and got away with one and made a nice long putt for par. I had one bogey, but made a lot of birdies. I hit the ball really well today.”

Trey Mullinax was one of the dozen players tied for third. He carded three birdies in a four-hole span from Nos. 11-14 to take a pair of 33s for an even 66 in the opening round.

The second-year pro from Birmingham, Alabama, was playing in his second-straight Utah Championship after watching fellow Alabama native and close friend Patton Kizzire win last year’s title with a course-record round.

“I didn’t really change my game plan with the rough,” Mullinax said in response to the new cut of the course. “Last year, it was a lot firmer and those tee shots were running a lot.

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“But once the wind starts blowing, it’s going to make these tee shots a bit harder. If the wind blows, scores will be higher. If not, we’ll probably see a lot of scores like we did today.”

Mullinax finished tied for 11th a year ago, behind Kizzire’s 19-under 269 that won on the second hole of a two-man playoff. With Kizzire preparing for next week’s PGA Championship, the former Auburn golfer is squarely in the corner of the Tide alum.

“We keep in touch a lot, but he’s a busy guy right now,” Mullinax said. “He knows I’m pulling for him, and I would like to win this tournament and beat his record here.

Also tied for fourth at 5-under are Rick Lamb, Ollie Schniederjans, Andrew Putnam, Alex Prugh, Adam Long, Byron Smith, Drew Weaver, Tom Whitney, Riley Arp, Matt Harmon, John Rollins and Adam Mitchell.

Riverside teaching pro Matt Baird and B.J. Staten of Cottonwood Heights are the top local golfers after the opening round. The duo each carded 1-over 72 to finish tied for 99th Thursday.

Former BYU golfer Jordan Rodgers and Park City’s Steele DeWald are tied for 136th with 74, and Riverton’s Marcus Burbank shot 78.

Play resumes Friday at 7 a.m. MDT with a shotgun start, and continues Saturday and Sunday on NBC’s Golf Channel.

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