Watts Cookin'
by Joe Watts
Joe Watts is the executive director of the Utah Golf Association

Fall - November - 06
Savor the Birdies

We are not savoring the birdies often enough. Our lives are way too busy. Too often we don’t enjoy the moment because there’s going to be a repeat moment any moment now. We have more activities and interests than 60 seconds in a minute can accommodate. Life is coming at us in a rat-a-tat-tat cadence.

Information about activities of our family and friends, our community and the world is coming at the same staccato pace. We hear it, and before we can absorb it, appreciate it, and put it in perspective, we hear the next news flash, and on and on it goes – and “Savoring the Birdies” has become a lost value. We say, “Wow”, and that’s about it, and then it’s on to the next “Wow.”

The 2006 rat-a-tat-tat golf season is over. We now go into golf hibernation. It’s not a deep sleep like the polar bears enjoy, but we do get a little time to ‘savor’ our golf achievements if we don’t get smothered by other activities.

Here are some of the things in Utah golf to savor during this hibernation season, some of which may even be new news to some of us.

The 100th Women’s Utah State Amateur involved many of our friends in a historic moment. Rachel Newren came from behind on the final day to win her second straight championship, but perhaps the highlight was the hours spent by numerous volunteers in gathering the tidbits of 100 years of history by searching the microfilms of the daily newspapers. The ladies are putting together a history book so that we can ‘Savor the Birdies’ if we will.
Defending champion Michael McRae set a Utah State Am qualifying record of 67-62-129, the lowest 36-hole score shot in the history of the State Am. The 67 set the Gold Course record at Soldier Hollow, and the 62 set the Silver Course record. “Wow’ and double ‘Wow.’

The final match of the Utah State Am paired Danny Summerhays, who had won the title when he was 16, against 16-year old Tony Finau. The ‘veteran’ couldn’t shake the unflappable ‘kid’ and thus Tony joined Danny as 16-year-old State Am champs.

We can also savor with Tony his four-ball victory in the Junior Ryder Cup.
Tony got an exemption to play in the Nationwide Tour, and his younger brother Gipper was feeling a bit left out. There’s a natural sibling rivalry going on there that is making them both better players. Gipper one-upped his older brother by shooting a 63 in the qualifying round to become the youngest player to ever qualify for the Nationwide Tour, and then Gipper went on to make the cut. We hope these youngsters are savoring these precious years. Their family and friends are certainly savoring it all.

Perhaps the least publicized moment of excellence came when Daniel Summerhays shot a 60 in the final round of the Ping/Golfweek college tournament at Golden Horseshoe in Williamsburg, Va. His last 20-foot birdie putt hung on the lip but wouldn’t drop.

Dean Wilson’s friends at Riverside Country Club and throughout the state have been savoring his great year on the PGA Tour. Dean won at the International and earned more than $2,000,000 and finished in the top twenty. He’s savoring his birdies every time he buys something.

Ralph Emery, at 83 years of age, has shot several rounds of 75 this year at Stansbury and Rose Park, and given his age and experience and perspective on life he’s probably savoring his birdies more than the youngsters who may not yet even realize how important and precious these special moments are.

There are many other great moments to savor, such as the Junior Americas Cup and the generosity of the Ogden Golf and Country Club in hosting the event. Utah stopping a four-year losing skein to Arizona and returning the coveted crystal trophy to its proper place in the Utah Golf Hall of Fame at Thanksgiving Point and there are the outstanding individual and season performances by Kirk Siddens, Rachel Newren, Greg Hunt, and Annette Giaotti.

To wrap it up, perhaps the best round in golf for the year was fired by the UGA’s Mike Harmon. He shot a career low! It wasn’t really an actual round, but it was all about golf. He headed up the task of replacing our old DOS handicap system with the new EZ Links System and getting them installed in over 100 golf courses throughout the state. He did this in a four-month window from the moment of decision to completion. There were naturally some lip-outs along the way on this difficult course, but there were an amazing number of birdies and eagles. Our hats are off to him and his volunteers who achieved the task on behalf of our 30,000 UGA golfers.

As my son in the movie industry would say, “It’s a wrap.”