“I made a run to the semifinals in 2019 when I had only been back from my mission for three weeks (losing to the eventual champion, Preston Summerhays),” Turner said last week at media day for the 2022 event. “That shows you that you are able to do it, to make it that far and know you can compete. But the next year I didn’t make it to match play. And then last year I was the No. 2 seed and lost to the No. 63 seed in the first round.”

With that mixture of success and frustration, how does Turner feel about the tournament?

“It’s my favorite tournament of the year,” Turner said without hesitation. “Honestly, the state amateur is one of the top tournaments I want to win in my amateur career. Every year that I play in it, I love preparing for it. I love coming out and playing with my peers. I love the match play format. It’s just one of my favorite tournaments of the year.”

Of course, Turner realizes that he is one of the top 288 amateur golfers in Utah who will be teeing it up this week at Soldier Hollow golf course in Heber with the same goal of emerging victorious after two rounds of stroke play and six rounds of match play.

Utah Golf Association director Easton Folster expects another great week of elite golf starting on Monday.

“It’s really nice to get to this point,” Folster said. “It’s great to see all of the hard work for a whole year since the last one pays off as we get the golfers out there. There is a lot of pressure but we look forward to it.”

He said that the field will be made of golfers who range in age from 13 or 14 years old all the way into their mid-to-late 60s.

“I think part of what makes the state amateur special is that it touches a lot of different players throughout the state,” Folster said. “We’ll take them as young as they’re able to qualify and we’ll take them as old as they’re able to qualify. It’s an open amateur event there for practically everyone to give it a shot. There are some handicap restrictions but in terms of age, anyone can come out and then give it a run.”

Turner said he enjoys being able to compete with golfers who are at different points in their lives — but he also likes battling against the top college golfers in the state, who often enjoy a lot of success.

“The first thing you do after stroke play is see who is in your bracket, see who you’ve got to play,” Turner said. “I love getting good draws, playing my buddies and being able to beat them. Last year we had four or five guys from BYU who played against each other and that was awesome. That’s just how you want it. It think it is great.”

The first challenge in tournament golf is always the course itself. Each golfer will play 18 holes apiece on the Gold and Silver courses at Soldier Hollow on the first two days, then all of the match play competition will be on the Gold course.

“It’s a luxury for us to have two courses here but it is a luxury for the players as well,” Folster said. “They can come up for a couple of practice rounds here and stay at one hotel. And Soldier Hollow does a fantastic job hosting. This is nothing new for them. They know what they are doing and we love being up here.”

Turner said the course will test the golfers but he sees opportunities to be aggressive.

“If you can keep it in the fairway, you’re probably going to do pretty well,” Turner said. “There are lots of opportunities to score if you’re in the fairway. If you’re not in the fairway, you kind of just have to play conservative. There are a lot of good players in this field who, if they’re hitting the driver well, can really overpower Soldier Hollow. You’ve just got to get a game plan, stick to it, and hopefully you end up in the fairway.”

It does change a little bit, however, when it gets into match play, according to the BYU golfer.

“If you have a bad shot, there is not as much stress,” Turner said. “You are never out of a match. I’ve unfortunately had matches where I’ve been up pretty big and lost, and matches where I’ve been down and won. It’s not like you have bad hole and you’re out of the tournament. Every hole is a reset and it’s great. I love that about it.”

Turner and the rest of the golfers in the the field for the 2022 Utah State Amateur will start the tournament on Monday at Soldier Hollow golf course. The first groups will tee off at 7:30 a.m.

For pairings, results and more details, go to http://uga.org.

Former Lone Peak and future BYU golfer Elijah Turner watches his shot during the 2019 Utah State Amateur at Soldier Hollow golf course in Heber on July 12, 2019.