Confidence, back-nine eagle has former BYU golfer Carson Lundell sharing lead at Utah Open

PROVO — The two-week stretch between the Colorado Open and the Korn Ferry Tour's Utah Championship may be some of the most blurry of Carson Lundell's golf career to date.

The 28-year-old BYU grad won arguably the biggest professional tournament of his pro career, a $50,000 check that mattered as much financially as it did mentally, and immediately turned around to catch a flight to his home state for a Monday qualifier on the Korn Ferry Tour. After shooting 9-under-par 63, he advanced to the Utah Championship with a chance to play a pro tournament and sleep in his own bed — a rarity for aspiring pros.

"There wasn't much sleep," he joked. "I do remember that.

"It was a great stretch of golf," Lundell added. "It was really nice to be able to put a couple of good rounds together, to have some momentum, and then to have a week off was nice to be able to reset and pick back up."

Lundell carried that moment into Friday's opening round of the Larry H. Miller Utah Open, carding seven birdies and an eagle to tie for the lead at 9-under 63 in the 100th edition of the tournament at Riverside Country Club.

Lundell finished in a four-way tie for first after 18 holes of the 54-hole tournament, alongside Spanish Fork's Jackson Rhees, former Utah golfer Braxton Watts of Farmington, and recent BYU alum, Skyline High graduate and first-day pro Tyson Shelley, who all shot 63.

That's three strokes off Lundell's best-ever round at Riverside, which he admits he shot during a casual round with some friends.

"I was 3 or 4 under on the front, and then I think I shot 27 on the back," Lundell recalled. "I was hoping for that again on this side, but I was a couple shy."

With his wife Hayley on the bag, Shelley birdied four of the final five holes to jump into a share of the lead, the last of the top foursome to exit the course.

"I hit some good shots, and I was just having fun," Shelley said. "We've played this course so many times at BYU. I'm really comfortable on it."

Early on, first-year rookie professionals had quite the day Friday.

Rhees' 63 led the morning wave of golfers, just one shot ahead of recent BYU graduate Simon Kwon — another Skyline High alum.

Angus Klintworth, a rising senior at BYU from Johannesburg, South Africa, was two shots back at 7-under 65, just ahead of a group that included former BYU golfer Rhett Rasmussen, Utah alum Blake Tomlinson, and BYU rising sophomore Jackson Mauss.

Rhees, who birdied nine holes after polishing off his bogey-free round on the par-4, 415-yard 18th hole to rolled into the clubhouse at 9-under.

Kwon, too, avoided mistakes while shooting 31 on the front nine before back-to-back birdies on the par-5 15th and par-4 16th holes pulled him within a single stroke of the top spot.

Rasmussen, who turned pro in 2020 and won the Southern California Open last year, also filled up his scorecard with six birdies and an eagle on the par-5, 551-yard fifth hole.

It looked like the order for the final day, until Lundell got hot on the back nine.

After firing 3-under 33 on the front nine, the former Lone Peak standout carved out four birdies heading into the par-4, 378-yard 16th hole.

Lundell took his time, waiting back for his group to finish laying up in the fairway while he thought about his next move. Then he grabbed his driver, and ripped his tee shot just above the green-side bunker before chipping in for eagle.

"I thought I could fly it pretty close to the green," he said. "I had to wait a little bit, but caught it right on the screens to land in the bunker, caught the lip, and sat perfect to trickle it on where everything ran right to the hole."

Now he'll take a share of the lead into the Saturday's second round, with a shot at winning the top professional open tournament in the Beehive State.

"Part of the learning curve in golf is when you're playing well, you continue to keep your foot on the gas and not protect," Lundell said. "I've had a lot of instances where I've let my foot off the gas, and tried to protect. But I'm slowly learning to continue to keep going, to keep staying aggressive, and it's been a good couple of weeks of staying aggressive."

100th Larry H. Miller Utah Open

Riverside Country Club, Provo

Top 10

• 63 — Jackson Rhees (p), Carson Lundell (p), Braxton Watts (p), Tyson Shelley (p)
• 64 — Simon Kwon (p)
• 65 — Angus Klintworth (a)
• 66 — Jackson Mauss (a), Rhett Rasmussen (a), Blake Tomlinson (p), Todd Tanner (p), Jordan Gibbs (p), Pete Stone (p)
• Full leaderboard available at utahpga.com

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