Zac Blair savors winning dramatic Utah Open playoff
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- Former BYU golfer Zac Blair watches his putt during the final round of the 2023 Utah Open at Riverside Country Club in Provo on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023.
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- Former BYU golfer Zac Blair celebrates with his family after the final round of the 2023 Utah Open at Riverside Country Club in Provo on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023.
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- Former BYU golfer Zac Blair watches his shot during the final round of the 2023 Utah Open at Riverside Country Club in Provo on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023.
Prior to Sunday’s final round of the 2023 Utah Open at Riverside Country Club, eight golfers in Utah had the distinction of winning both the Utah State Amateur championship and the Utah Open in their careers.
One of them was Jimmy Blair, who won the open title in 1981 and the amateur crown in 1973.
Thanks to some clutch putting and lasting through four playoff holes, that list increased by one as former BYU golfer Zac Blair — Jimmy Blair’s son — added a Utah Open championship to his 2009 Utah State Amateur title.
Zac Blair couldn’t help but get emotional Sunday afternoon when he talked about what it meant to be the first father-son duo to both accomplish that feat.
“It’s just really cool,” Zac Blair said. “My dad’s my hero. I wish he was here but it is really cool.”
Jimmy Blair, who is dealing with some health issues, wasn’t able to be in attendance for the dramatic conclusion of this week’s tournament but caddied for his son on Friday.
“Every year I play in it, he asks when I’m going to win,” Zac Blair said. “He always kind of had that little jab at me, just a little father-son joke. He came up here on Friday and caddied for me, which was great. It’s kind of the first time he’s seen me golfing in a while. It’s obviously really cool and I’m really proud to have that with him.”
It certainly wasn’t easy for Zac Blair to get that title, although he did get to celebrate his 33rd birthday by emerging victorious.
“I played well all week,” Zac Blair said. “I honestly felt like I played my best on Friday but I just didn’t score very well. Then I played really solid yesterday, and then today I just played really well. I knew that if I could kind of take care of the par-5s and make a couple of putts, I’d be right there.”
He made a charge up the crowded leaderboard on Sunday, going 6-under-par on the first 13 holes.
At that point, however, things started to not go his way.
He had a couple of putts just miss on No. 14 and No. 15, then had a really tough break on No. 17.
“I probably hit the best shot I’ve ever hit on No. 17,” Zac Blair said. “I had a really good number and knew I needed to hit it in close. It was all over it the whole way, then landed seven feet short and bounced right off the stick. Sometimes those drop in tight and sometimes they go like it did today, 20 feet dead right.”
He admitted that at that point he did wonder if it just wasn’t going to happen for him.
“It starts creeping in that nothing is really going right,” Zac Blair said. “I think I’ve finished second in this event three or four times, so it’s like maybe I’m just always going to be the bridesmaid at this one.”
He knew he needed to be aggressive on No. 18 to close out his round and dropped his second shot in to just a couple of feet from the hole to get a birdie.
But with a dozen golfers within a couple of shots of the lead, he knew other golfers could go even lower.
“I didn’t think 15-under-par was going to be enough,” Blair said. “I knew there were a couple of people at 15 and a few people at 14 with three or four holes left. People were making a bunch of birdies on No. 15 and No. 16 and then No. 17 is not super long. Then the 18th hole I feel like is a birdie hole as well if you hit a good drive, so I was kind of just keeping my fingers crossed. I kind of sat there for 20 or 30 minutes and ended up in the playoff.”
He went up against Utah Ute golfer Javier Barcos from Spain, who was 6-under-par on the day and playing well.
Both golfers made some challenging putts to stay in it on the first three playoff holes.
On the third, Zac Blair’s chip shot rolled past the hole and Barcos lipped his championship-winning birdie putt just barely to the left of the hole, with both golfers ending up with pars.
The fourth playoff hole was the par-3 No. 9 and Blair caught a break when Barcos’s tee shot bounced into the left bunker.
Barcos hit a solid sand shot and still had a chance to force another playoff hole when Zac Blair two-putted for par, but his putt hit the cup and spun out.
“It was awesome (to finally secure the win),” Zac Blair said. “This is my home course. My whole family was out here and it’s my birthday. That’s why I came to try and win and play really well. And I felt like I did that. That’s always a nice feeling.”
Barcos was the low amateur in the event while former BYU golfers Carson Lundell and Rhett Rasmussen tied a couple of out-of-state pros for third place at 14-under-par.
BYU golfer Simon Kwon, who won the 2023 Utah State Amateur championship earlier this summer, came in seventh at 13-under-par.
For complete results from the 2023 Utah Open, go to http://utpga.com.
