UGF Hosts Annual Fundraising Golf Tournament

SANDY, UTAH—Following a beautiful and busy 2018 golf season, Willow Creek Country Club was kind enough to host to the third annual Utah Golf Foundation Tournament on Monday, October 8th. All proceeds raised from the golf tournament, as well as from the after-play auction, were reserved for the UGF’s Veterans on Course and Utah Youth on Course initiatives.

The 84-player field consisted of Utah Golf Foundation board members, sponsors, corporations, foundations, single-player entries from around the state of Utah and the UGF Tournament’s luncheon guest speakers. Despite the sudden drop in temperature, the frost stayed away, and the 9 a.m. shotgun start resumed as scheduled with everyone in attendance.

With winter gloves and beanies at the ready, the 21 four-person scramble teams battled hard throughout the 18 holes of play to claim the title of champions. In the end, three teams carded low rounds of 12-under-par 60. The tie-breaker followed the Rules of Golf, “An acceptable method of matching cards is to determine the winner on the basis of the best score for the last nine holes. If the tying players have the same score for the last nine, determine the winner on the basis of the last six holes, last three holes and finally the 18th hole.” Two of the three teams remained tied after following this process, leading the UGF to compare the 17th hole as the deciding factor. With a birdie on No. 17, Briton Pannier, Dirk Grow, Mike Basham and Sean Overholt of The UPS Store clinched the victory.

The closest-to-the-hole competitions on holes 5, 7 and 15 were captured by Park Jensen of Logistic Specialties, Inc., Pro Image Sports Layton Owner Troy Osborn, and Executive Director of the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development Val Hale.

The Utah Golf Foundation Tournament always includes a silent auction during the post-play luncheon to raise additional funds for Veterans on Course and Utah Youth on Course. This year, the auction opened for bidding the day before the tournament, Sunday, October 7th and closed as a silent auction following the luncheon. Twenty items donated by local businesses, sponsors, universities and individuals were up for grabs; because of their support, more than $4,000 was raised from the auction.

The event concluded with two wonderful guest speakers, each representing one of the UGF’s flagship programs. Youth on Course National Scholarship recipient Avery Scoville spoke first, telling her story about getting started in golf and how it led her to making friends in high school and discovering opportunities for her future.

During her senior year of high school at Timpview, Scoville completed a medical internship, worked multiple part-time jobs, acted as president of the girls in her age group at church, was on LDS Seminary council, was the treasurer and head of fundraising for Timpview Cheer and was captain of the Timpview Girls’ Golf team. Despite growing up in a single-parent home, Avery never let money hold her back from success. From academics to athletics, she put her head down and worked—hard, especially on her golf game.

Prior to high school golf, the only experience Avery had was hitting range balls a few times with her dad. She played her first season on junior varsity. The more she practiced and learned, the lower her scores dropped. She was playing varsity and lettered in golf her senior year.

“Youth on Course has given me the opportunity to play and practice within my means,” stated Scoville. “It has allowed me to grow my talent and love for golf.”

Avery Scoville graduated from Timpview in May 2018 with a medical assisting license and plans to pursue a nursing degree from BYU.

Hill Air Force Base Chief Master Sergeant Rodney Koonce gave an inspirational speech about the importance of veterans socializing with other veterans who understand them and can relate to the struggles they face every day. He stated that programs like Veterans on Course allow military personnel of active or veteran status to effectively cope with trials and adopt positive hobbies and social circles to help them maintain healthy lifestyles.

Chief Master Sergeant Koonce is the Command Chief Master Sergeant, 75th Air Base Wing, Hill Aire Force Base, Utah. He represents the nearly 2,500 personnel providing base support for the Ogden Air Logistics Complex, three wings and more than 50 tenant organizations. He advises the commander on mission effectiveness, combat readiness, professional development, training, utilization, health, morale and welfare of all assigned personal as well as quality of life issues for the 22,000 total force warriors and family members that comprise Team Hill.

Chief Koonce entered the Air Force in April 1991. He graduated from the Non-Destructive Inspection course at Chanute AFB, Illinois, In September 1991. He served in a variety of aircraft maintenance positions sustaining combat and training air operations, as well as a myriad of other roles including First Sergeant. His assignments include duty in throughout Air Combat Command, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Pacific Air Forces. He was also involved in Operations Desert Shield, Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

The Utah Golf Foundation would like to thank Willow Creek Country Club for hosting the event, all auction donors for their willingness to give, our guest speakers for their inspirational words, the tournament players and the following UGF Tournament sponsors: the Utah Golf Association, Fairways Media, The First Tee of Utah, Hoopes Vision, PGA TOUR Superstore, Topgolf, Savage Services, Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation, GENCOMM, Jorgensen’s, Love Communications and Parsons Behle & Latimer. The UGF greatly appreciates your continued support of Veterans on Course and Utah Youth on Course.

For more information about the Utah Golf Foundation and its programs, contact Program Director Megan Huntsman at megan@uga.org.