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PROVO — Every golfer woke up Saturday morning before the Siegfried & Jensen Utah Open chasing former BYU golfer Peter Kuest.
By the end of the day, they were still chasing.
But it wasn’t without a whole lot of trying.
Kuest shot 8-under-par 64 to keep a five-shot lead Saturday over the nearest challenger with 17-under at Riverside Country Club in Provo.
In 36 holes of his return to Provo since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down his senior season of college golf, Kuest has broken par on 17 of them, including a pair of eagles.
Riverside head teaching pro Matt Baird, of Cedar Hills, finished at 66 for the second-straight day to finish second and five back of Kuest at 12-under. Zahkai Brown, the Colorado pro who won the Utah Open in 2016, and local pro Craig Hocknull were tied for third at 10-under.
BYU golfer Kelton Hirsch, Neil Johnson and Kavan Eubank rounded out the top-five at 9-under, eight shots back of Kuest on a dry, warm day near the mouth of Provo Canyon where 49 golfers finished under par. Hirsch held a one-shot lead on Utah's Mitchell Schow for low amateur honors.
“It’s an interesting golf course, because if you drive it well, you can set yourself up for a lot of birdies. Of course, if you get off, you can kind of get in trouble pretty quick, too,” said Colorado pro Blake Cannon, who shot 3-under 69 to finish tied for 8th at 8-under overall. “If you’re driving it well, you can set yourself up for a lot of birdie opportunities.
“If you hit it long and straight, you’re going to be able to capitalize a lot out here.”
Kuest was in one of the first groups out in the morning flight, teeing off on No. 10 just before 8 a.m. The former BYU golfer wasted little time building on a three-stroke lead, too.
Kuest drained an eagle putt on the par-5, 557-yard 13th hole, and started a run of five holes under par in a six-hole span to seize control of the tournament.
It was the same stretch of holes where Kuest felt comfortable Friday when he also made eagle on No. 13 during a run of five-straight under par.
“Even if you haven’t played out here before and see the course for the first time, you should know that’s the stretch of course where you can make a lot of birdies,” Kuest said after Friday’s round.
Kuest was a combined 16-under playing the par-4s and par-5s through the first 36 holes.
His former teammate Hirsch made good use of that stretch as well, with birdies on Nos. 12, 13, 15 and 17 to jump into the top-five with a 5-under 67.
“There are a few stretches like that; on the front nine, it’s 5-7,” said Cannon, adding that the course plays a couple of shots harder in the afternoon compared to the morning. “Then you hit 13 through 18, and there’s a window of holes that play shorter and a lot of par-5s.
“The guy who drives it the best is going to have a lot of opportunities to do really well out here.”
SUU sophomore Tyler Jones, who shot a blistering 64 to finish second to Kuest after the first round, struggled to make a change Saturday. The Lone Peak product opened at 3-over on the first two holes and carded six bogeys, a double-bogey and three birdies to fall to 3-under with a 5-over 77.
Skyline incoming senior Tyson Shelley, who won the Utah junior amateur boys championship, carded back-to-back 69s to finish 6-under and tied for 14th ahead of Sunday’s final. His Skyline teammate Simon Kwon also shot 69 to finish just two shots back of Shelley for Sunday.
Two-time defending Utah State Amateur champion Preston Summerhays shot 1-over 73 to finish at 3-under. He’s tied with BYU men’s golf coach Bruce Brockbank, who shot 2-under 70 Saturday. Brockbank collected $750 in winnings as the top golfer in the Utah Section PGA senior division.
The top 56, with ties made the cut, which was set at 1-over.
Full results are available at the Utah Section PGA. The final round will start Sunday at 8 a.m. MT, with Kuest, Baird and Brown teeing off in the final group at 11:30 a.m.
