Rare link-up has BYU-bound Jones brothers contending for Utah state amateur title

SALT LAKE CITY — Because of their age differences, brothers Zac and Cooper Jones didn't grow up playing competitive golf together.

Zac had already graduated from Lone Peak by the time his younger brother starred for the Knights, and the younger Jones really broke out while the elder Jones was serving a two-year church mission.

The two will finally play on the same team this fall, when Cooper Jones enrolls as an incoming freshman at BYU to join rising junior Zac with the Cougars. Then it's off to serve his own mission for Cooper, making the summer of 2023 the beginning of an important stretch for the duo.

The duo recently returned from a two-week trip to play in the Sunnehanna Amateur in Pennsylvania and Northeast Amateur in Rhode Island, and both find themselves racing up stroke play after Monday's opening round of the 125th Utah state amateur championship at The Country Club.

"In junior golf, we never matched up in the same age group. High school golf, we never played together," said Zac Jones, who followed a trio of bogeys with three consecutive birdies to card 1-over-par 72 for a tie for second. "We've been traveling on the road together, playing these big tournaments. But we've been looking forward to the state am all year.

"It's super fun, traveling and playing competitive together — and trying to beat each other. There's definitely some trash talk at home."

Younger brother Cooper was tied for fourth at 2-over 73, while older brother Tyler shot 8-over 79 in a tie for 63rd.

"It's definitely fun," said Cooper, who lost to BYU's Max Brenchley in the Round of 32 of last year's state amateur. "He beat me both times out there, but it's fun to compare and see how our games match up. … But I cheer for him; i was keeping track of him. I saw he made an eagle on No. 7, and I knew I had to get going."

After teeing off in one of the first groups of the day, Davis Johnson took advantage of lightning-fast greens and a rare break in the strong headwind to lead the field midway through the 36-hole stroke play portion with 3-under 68. The redshirt sophomore at the University of Utah from Tucson, Arizona, shot 31 on the back nine with an eagle on the par-4 11th hole to take the four-stroke lead into Tuesday's stroke-play finale.

Utah Tech signee David Liechty and Andrew Cottle joined Zac Jones in a tie for second at 1-over 72, while Peyton Hastings, Devin Tovey, Oscar Maxfield, Justin Schluker, Cooper Jones and fellow BYU incoming freshman Peter Kim all tied for fifth at 2-over to round out the top 10.

After Tuesday's final round of the 36-hole stroke play portion, the final match play qualifiers will be decided early Wednesday morning before the Round of 64.

The 36-hole championship match is scheduled for Saturday morning at The Country Club. But that's a long way to go for Zac Jones, the defending amateur champion.

And that match play final is one of the furthest things from his mind, he added.

"It's the same thing as always: if you can just get into match play, then you've got to take it one match at a time," Jones said. "If I could sneak medalist, that would be cool. But that's definitely not the goal; the goal is to make match play."

Related topics