BYU Football golf tournament brings media, coaches, players together
-
- BYU football coach Kalani Sitake (second from left) poses for a photo with defensive coordinator Jay Hill (to his left), Senior Associate Athletic Director Dave Almodova (to his right) and Associate Athletic Director Casey Stauffer at the BYU Football Media Golf Tournament, which was held at Cedar Hills Golf Course on Monday, June 23, 2025.
-
- From left, Daily Herald Managing Editor Jared Lloyd, sports writer Brian Preece, sports writer Brandon Gurney and Aaron Adamson of Central Bank pose for a photo at the BYU Football Media Golf Tournament, which was held at Cedar Hills Golf Course on Monday, June 23, 2025.
-
- Daily Herald Managing Editor Jared Lloyd takes a swing at the BYU Football Media Golf Tournament, which was held at Cedar Hills Golf Course on Monday, June 23, 2025.
For the third straight year, BYU football hosted its Media Day golf tournament at Cedar Hills Golf Club.
The scramble tournament is a lot of fun and teams are made up of current BYU players and coaches, former BYU players, other members of the BYU athletic department along with teams from the different media outlets whether it be print, radio or television.
There are plenty of prizes and giveaways and a great lunch at the end provided by Costa Vida. This event also provides a wonderful opportunity for us media types to mingle with the players and coaches while having a lot of fun chasing that white ball around.
For the record, the team of Jaren Hall, Baylor Romney, Connor Pay and Blake Freeland were the overall winners shooting an impressive 54, or 17-under par. Hall and Freeland also won a couple of long drives as this foursome crushed it with drives north of 300 yards all day long.
The idea of this tournament came from associate athletic director for football communications Brett Pyne along with Duff Tittle (senior athletic director for broadcast relations) and Kenny Cox (director of media relations and communications for football).
All three, along with the student interns working with the sports information department make sure all the contestants have a blast. They arranged bombers off the tee to hit drives for teams while Tittle manned the 8th hole, a short par three where teams could use his shot if they wanted. And Tittle hit plenty of good ones.
“Brett (Pyne) is really the one that came up with the idea,” Tittle said. “It’s something we budget for and the school administration has been super supportive.”
If you are wondering if BYU head coach Kalani Sitake tees it up, well, he does and he has a pretty good game. He does say that wide receiver coach and passing game coordinator Fesi Sitake and defensive coordinator Jay Hill are the best golfers amongst the coaching staff while “there’s a great battle on who is third best.”
Fesi Sitake, offensive line coach TJ Woods, tight ends coach Kevin Gilbride and running backs coach Harvey Unga shot a 16-under 55 to place second overall. Meanwhile, Kalani Sitake’s team, which included Hill, associate athletic director in charge of corporate sponsorships Casey Stauffer and senior associate athletic director over external operations David Almodova came in at a 9-under 62.
As for Kalani Sitake, he enjoys the game but doesn’t practice.
“With a two-year-old at home, I don’t think my wife is going to like it if I tell her I’m going to spend two hours hitting balls at the range,” Sitake joked.
Though late June through mid July is down time for him and the other coaches, Sitake still has his plate full. He will be at the Freedom Festival Parade on July 4 and his daughter is getting married in July. But then some rest and family time in Hawaii is on the docket with fall camp and the season right around the corner.
This golf event definitely builds positive relationships between the football program and the media, but it also celebrates the many people behind the scenes that help make the Cougar football program, and athletic department in general, successful.
Even the top media team is recognized and ABC 4 Utah and the Deseret News teamed up again to defend their title shooting a 14-under 57. On this team was ABC 4 Utah sports director Wesley Ruff, Deseret News sports columnist Dick Harmon, along with Randy Dodson and Mike Stansfield.
As for the Daily Herald, former sports editor and now managing editor Jared Lloyd teamed up with our newest full-time sports reporter Brandon Gurney with yours truly. Our foursome was completed by Aaron Adamson, who works at Central Bank in Pleasant Grove. Another fun aspect of this tournament is that you get to meet new people.
For the record, we had six birdies and 12 pars and made plenty of good memories.
As Sean Walker, a writer for ksl.com noted, “A bad day of golf is still way better than a good day at the office.”
