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Former BYU golfer Elijah Turner watches his shot during the first day of the Utah State Amateur golf tournament at Ogden Golf and Country Club in Ogden on Monday, July 8, 2024.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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BYU golfer Cooper Jones watches his drive during the first day of the Utah State Amateur golf tournament at Ogden Golf and Country Club in Ogden on Monday, July 8, 2024.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Former BYU golfer Cole Ogden watches his drive during the first day of the Utah State Amateur golf tournament at Ogden Golf and Country Club in Ogden on Monday, July 8, 2024.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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BYU golfer Zac Jones watches his drive during the first day of the Utah State Amateur golf tournament at Ogden Golf and Country Club in Ogden on Monday, July 8, 2024.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Darrin Overson of Provo hits a drive during the first day of the Utah State Amateur golf tournament at Ogden Golf and Country Club in Ogden on Monday, July 8, 2024.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Golfers warm up on the putting green during the first day of the Utah State Amateur golf tournament at Ogden Golf and Country Club in Ogden on Monday, July 8, 2024.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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When Cole Ogden completed his impressive career at BYU in 2015, Cooper Jones wasn’t even 10-years-old.

On Thursday afternoon, however, the former Cougar and the current BYU freshman lined up against each other in the 2024 Utah State Amateur Championship at the Ogden Golf and Country Club in Ogden with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line.

And they weren’t the only matchup of Cougar golfers, although the other pairing didn’t feature as big of an age gap.

Before he finished in 2023, Elijah Turner was a teammate of Zac Jones — who is now a senior (and Cooper Jones’ older brother) — both at BYU and at Lone Peak High so the two had played plenty of golf together. This time, however, the stakes were much higher as both attempted to keep their title hopes alive.

“We grew up right around the corner from each other,” Turner said. “I’ve played a lot of golf with him, but we hadn’t played against each other in match play — other than a couple of fun matches at Alpine Country Club. But not in a real tournament.”

It changes the dynamic when you know an opponent that well, according to Turner.

“It was pretty different,” Turner said. “You don’t want to crack the same jokes. Zac is very serious when he plays golf, which is what he should do. You don’t want to crack a joke to throw him off his game or anything. But it was still great. We still talked and just had a good time. But playing Zac makes you rise to the occasion.”

It was a match that could’ve gone either way, particularly early on.

“We were going back and forth on the front nine, making birdies,” Turner said. “On the back nine we both cooled off a little bit. Zac made a couple of mistakes and for me it was just about keep making pars. That’s really what it was the whole day.”

But it was Turner who ended up with the 1-up win and moved on. His victory set up another all-BYU matchup as he will now face Cougar senior Cole Ponich in the quarterfinals.

“It’s going to be fun,” Turner said. “I saw Ponich after he won his match and he said, ‘let’s go have one tomorrow.’ We’re going to have a good time and hopefully play some good golf. We’ll try to beat each other at our best.”

Ponich, the No. 2 seed, had to sweat out a tough match in the morning against former state amateur champ Dan Horner, including trailing by a hole heading into No. 17. But Ponich made the shots he needed to down the stretch, winning both of the last two holes to escape with the 1-up victory.

Ponich then maintained that momentum in the afternoon, getting an early lead over Ogden’s Parker Bunn and holding on for the 2 and 1 win.

Turner said he enjoys match play more when he knows the opponent, like he did with Zac Jones and Ponich.

“Personally I find it easier to play against people I know,” Turner said. “I like to be comfortable out there and have conversations. If it is someone I know, I can freely talk to them. If I don’t really know them, you don’t want to make them uncomfortable.

“But beating your friends is hard. You know they are bummed and aren’t going to want to talk to you for a few days, but it’s all good.”

Turner may have defeated Zac Jones, but Cooper Jones was able to stay alive. In his battle with Ogden, neither golfer led by more than one hole but the Cougar freshman broke a late tie with a win on No. 17 and advanced, 1 up.

There was a third contest that featured a pair of Utah Valley golfers as Darrin Overson of Provo (the 1998 state amateur champion) took on former Spanish Fork star Jackson Rhees, who is now heading into his sophomore season at Utah Tech.

The two golfers halved 13 of the 18 holes but Rhees’s wins on No. 6, No. 11 and No. 13 proved to be just enough to eliminate Overson as the former Don advanced with the 1-up win.

Another BYU golfer, junior Tyson Shelley, was the medalist in stroke play but saw his run come to an end in the Round of 32 as he lost to Brendan Thomas of Farmington, 2 up.

Now all eight quarterfinalists face another long, hot day on the links as they will again seek to win two matches to reach Saturday’s 36-hole final.

“I think the key is to stay patient and the putts will fall,” Turner said. “I’ve been burning a lot of edges on putts this week, but I think if I keep playing my game, hit the fairway then hit the green, I’ll have a chance. The greens are small enough where if you are on the green, you’ll have putt at it for birdie. I just need to stay patient and the putts will fall.”

In the quarterfinals, Rhees will be up first as he takes on Thomas starting at 7 a.m., followed by Cooper Jones taking on Zach Felts of St. George. Ponich and Turner will then battle to face the winner of the match between Davis Johnson of Scottsdale, Arizona, and Aidan Thain of Holladay.

The semifinal round will then take place immediately following the conclusion of the quarterfinals.

All of the action will be at the Ogden Golf and Country Club in Ogden. For complete scoring and details, go to http://UGA.org.

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