Buckway jumps out to State Am lead

LEHI -- Thanksgiving Point wasn't its turbulent self Wednesday afternoon.

When last year's medalist, Michael McRae, posted a 5-under par 67 in the morning round of the 109th Utah State Amateur Golf Championship, and when 16 other players posted par or better before the afternoon players had even approached the first tee, most figured those scores would hold up as the day's best.

Normally, a pretty stiff breeze greets golfers at Thanksgiving Point all afternoon, which usually makes the already difficult layout treacherous.

But Mother Nature took most of Wednesday off. It was another toasty afternoon, but the conditions were otherwise benign until a brief microburst hit with only a couple of groups still on the course. The scores reflect it with 31 players shooting par or better.

Greg Buckway's tournament-leading 6-under par 66 came in the afternoon, as did the 69s from Jeremy Richmond and John Linnett -- which has them alone in third. Dustin Pimm shot his 70 in the afternoon, which was good enough to join Carl Jensen and Scott Clark in the fifth spot. Another 10 golfers shot 71, and 14 more posted a 72.

Following today's second qualifying round, the low 32 will advance to match play, which begins on Friday and ends on Sunday with a 36-hole final.

"In the end, a lot of people have shot low in these first two rounds, and it hasn't meant much ... so I'm just going to go out and try to play well so I can get my game grooved for match play," Buckway said.

Buckway, a former Utah Open champion and former Weber State player, came out of the starting gate on Wednesday blistering. He had tap-in birdies on his first four holes en route to a front-nine 32. On the back side, he added birdies on Nos. 10, 14 and 15, with his sole bogey coming on No. 13.

"Actually, it was the number I picked in my mind to shoot today, so I pulled it off," Buckway said.

McRae also wasted no time Wednesday in picking up where he left off last year at Soldier Hollow, where he set a tournament record in winning medalist honors by eight strokes. In what he called a "ho- hum" round, McRae rolled in a short birdie putt on the par-4 first hole, then did the same on holes No. 2, 4, 7 and 8 for a front-nine 5-under par 31. He added another birdie on the par-5 11th to reach 6- under, but sandwiched another birdie on 14 between three-putt bogeys on 13 and 15.

"I just kept hitting good iron shots and made my putts," McRae said.

Pimm, a tournament favorite, hit 16 greens but managed only three birdies. Still, he likes his position at only four shots behind.

"If I can get my putting going (today) and hit the ball the same, it should be good enough," Pimm said.

The first round didn't pass without a little controversy caused by the UGA's new pace-of-play policy, which requires players to complete each nine and the 18 holes within a specified time. Several players, worried they were going to miss the time allotment and get penalized, played out of turn and finished holes in a sprint. What most didn't understand, however, was that the UGA takes into account factors that can legitimately delay play and that all penalties can be appealed. Even though many were told they were behind time, only four players were actually penalized.

The confusion might have cost Jensen a share of the lead. Jensen was 4-under par on the 18th tee when his group realized it had only 10 minutes to complete the hole. On the final green, facing a 10- foot birdie putt, Jensen asked an official how much time he had remaining, and the official put up one finger. Hurrying to beat that time, Jensen four putted for a double bogey. Afterwards, Jensen and his playing partners were not penalized.

"It was just a really bad mistake on my part," Jensen said. "I should have taken my time and knocked the ball in the hole and dealt with it afterwards."

Family responsibility also came into play Wednesday. Southern Utah golfer Eric Nilsson was 4-under par through five holes when he received a call that his wife was in labor. He quickly left the course and headed back to Cedar City.

109th Utah State Amateur

At Thanksgiving Point

First round, medal play

Greg Buckway 66

Michael McRae 67

Jon Linnett 69

Jeremy Richmond 69

Scott Clark 70

Carl Jensen 70

Dustin Pimm 70

E-mail: jimr@desnews.com

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