Andrew Kozan receives his winnings from the Korn Ferry Tour’s 2022 Utah Championship golf match on the Oakridge Nation Membership in Farmington on Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Ben B. Braun, Deseret Information
Andrew Kozan stands on the 18th gap of the Oakridge Nation Membership after successful the Korn Ferry Tour’s 2022 Utah Championship golf match in Farmington on Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Ben B. Braun, Deseret Information
FARMINGTON — When you had Korn Ferry Tour rookie Andrew Kozan successful the Utah Championship this week earlier than the match started, give your self a pair mulligans subsequent time you hit the hyperlinks.
Heck, for those who even had Kozan, who completed up at Auburn final yr, successful the match earlier than Sunday’s last spherical started, you had been additionally within the minority.
However that’s what occurred on a gorgeous Sunday night at Oakridge Nation Membership, as Kozan got here from tied for thirteenth when the fourth spherical started to pocketing the $135,000 first-place examine. It was the largest final-round comeback on the KFT this season.
“I knew I used to be within the hunt just about the entire again 9. Kinda did what I might. All in all it was an excellent day. I kinda left all of it on the market and tried my greatest, for certain.” — Former BYU golfer Patrick Fishburn on ending in a tie for second on the Utah Championship Sunday.
“It's insane, when you concentrate on it, particularly (with) what we've got gone by means of as a staff the previous couple of months,” mentioned Kozan, who zoomed from 153 to 41 on the tour’s factors checklist. “To come back out on high this week is de facto particular, and it simply means rather a lot to have my spouse (Caylin) right here and everybody again house supporting me the entire week.”
Kozan, sporting pink golf sneakers that he now says will grow to be a Sunday custom, fired a final-round 63 (8-under) and completed at 21-under to edge former BYU star Patrick Fishburn, Justin Suh and Ashton Van Horne by a stroke.
Among the many different golfers with BYU ties within the occasion, Peter Kuest completed in a tie for fifth, Zac Blair and Daniel Summerhays tied for thirtieth, whereas Monday-qualifier Austen Christiansen tied for forty seventh.
How huge of a longshot was Kozan earlier than the match started? He hadn’t made a reduce on the tour since April 3 within the Membership Automotive Championship, the place he went on to a tie for fortieth place. That’s 11 straight missed cuts earlier than this week; He had performed the weekend in solely 4 of 19 tournaments. His greatest end was tie for fifteenth at The Panama Championship.
However coming to Utah was the attraction. That, the pink sneakers and the presence of his spouse, who has been touring with him since they skipped the BMW Charity Professional-Am in South Carolina to get married.
Andrew Kozan stands on the 18th gap of the Oakridge Nation Membership after successful the Korn Ferry Tour’s 2022 Utah Championship golf match in Farmington on Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022.
Ben B. Braun, Deseret Information
“I simply acquired lots of grit,” Kozan mentioned of the comeback. “You simply gotta depart all of it on the market. Me and my pals have been saying all week, ‘battle or flight.’ When your again is to the wall, what are you going to do? I went on the market immediately with nothing to lose and left all of it on the market.”
He did get at the least one fortuitous bounce.
Developing 18, and needing a par to grow to be the clubhouse chief with seven twosomes nonetheless on the course behind him, he hit his tee shot far proper. It bounced off a tree and went even additional proper — which was an excellent factor as a result of it gave him a transparent path to the inexperienced, albeit within the tough.
He made a routine par, considerably to the displeasure of the big crowd gathered across the 18th inexperienced who had simply watched hometown hero Fishburn make an 18-footer for birdie to get to -20.
“Yeah, it was an excellent bounce,” Kozan acknowledged.
Talking of Fishburn, he was the very best native finisher, taking the T2 and transferring from 71st to forty sixth on the factors checklist and making certain he'll get his KFT card subsequent season. A win would have vaulted him into the highest 25 and earned him a PGA Tour card, which is clearly the purpose of each participant on this tour.
“Kinda combined feelings,” Fishburn mentioned of the day, after signing dozens of caps, golf balls and grounds passes. One child even requested him to signal his neck. With a Sharpie.
Fishburn patiently granted each request however that one, as an alternative discovering a ball in his bag for the teen whereas figuring out he might need been a shot away from realizing his dream of constructing the PGA Tour.
“I knew I used to be within the hunt just about the entire again 9. Kinda did what I might. All in all it was an excellent day. I kinda left all of it on the market and tried my greatest, for certain,” he mentioned, a day after noting he would “go for it” and put the pedal to the steel all day.
Fishburn will rue the seventeenth gap (No. 8 for Oakridge members) for a protracted, very long time. He made a bogey after an errant tee shot and a missed 12-footer for par that “broke proper throughout the outlet.”
“I used to be attempting to hit a low reduce (off the tee) and simply didn’t commit,” he mentioned. “I wished to hit it on the left facet, and I used to be a bit of bit anxious about hitting it by means of into the (tough). However only one unhealthy swing, actually.”
A swing which may imply he might be again on the KFT subsequent yr, except he could make some magic in Omaha, Nebraska, this week as he did in 2021 when he completed T4 on the Pinnacle Financial institution Championship.
“It's a very wonderful line,” Fishburn mentioned. “There are photographs right here and there early within the week that you just don’t notice it might come all the way down to that. You simply have to regulate what you'll be able to management, and check out your greatest and for those who come up quick you simply attempt once more subsequent time. There's at all times one other match.”
Fishburn earned $48,750, his greatest paycheck as a professional.
His former BYU teammate, Kuest, additionally had a memorable week and gained his largest examine ever — $24,225 — with a T5 end. Kuest eagled the second gap, birdied the third and the seventh, and located himself tied for the lead. A bogey on the nasty par-4 tenth — a par-5 for members — derailed his momentum. Birdies on 12 and 17 acquired him again up the leaderboard.
“It was an excellent week,” mentioned Kuest, who gained 10 faculty tournaments at BYU and was an All-American. “It wasn’t the end result we wished, nevertheless it was the end result we acquired. The sport is certainly getting in the precise path and it's only a course of, so we'll simply maintain hammering the method till we get a win.”
Kuest will play in Omaha subsequent week by advantage of ending within the high 25 Sunday. He went from 170 to 125 on the factors checklist. He lipped out a birdie putt on No. 18 that was actually laborious to take as a result of it stored him out of that tie for second.
“I discovered that I can win out right here,” Kuest mentioned. “I can take it low and provides myself lots of alternatives to win. If I jus maintain doing what I'm doing, that can occur.”
Native favourite Summerhays shot a 67 Sunday to complete the match at -13 and tie for thirtieth. Summerhays rebounded from bogeys on 11 and 14 to make an eagle on 15 after which birdied 17 and 18 to complete sturdy.
Former BYU golfer Austen Christiansen, from Houston, shot a 70 Sunday to complete at -11. Christiansen tied for forty seventh. He was in place for a greater end, however made bogeys on 13 and 15 to drop down the leaderboard.
Former PGA Tour common Zac Blair, who's rehabbing on the KFT and can return to the massive tour this fall on a significant medical exemption, shot a 69 on Sunday to complete at -13 and in a tie for thirtieth. Blair went out in 33, however catastrophe struck on the robust par-4 tenth when he “made one unhealthy swing” and took a double bogey. He adopted that with a bogey on 11, and an excellent day was ruined.
Birdies on 15 and 17 moved him again up the leaderboard a bit. Blair mentioned he'll play in Omaha subsequent week and within the Utah Open the next week, then take a pair weeks off and prepare for Napa.
“My recreation is coming round,” he mentioned. “I had one bogey going into that again 9 immediately. I used to be positively avoiding the bogeys, however simply not making sufficient birdies. Good photographs didn’t find yourself doing what I assumed they might do.”