2 home-grown pros climb into lead at Utah Classic

SANDY — The Nationwide Tour is considered the closest thing in the world to the PGA Tour and features a bunch of golfers just an eyelash away from the big time. These golfers "on the verge" have come from all over the country to play here this week for the $450,000 purse at the Envirocare Utah Classic.

Yet after one round of play at Willow Creek Country Club, it's a couple of home-grown Utah golfers who are leading the 156-player field.

Sandy's Steve Schneiter, a 41-year-old "veteran," who played in the PGA Tournament just two weeks ago, shot a 65 in the morning group, then was matched by Bountiful's Garrett Clegg, a 24-year-old who has only been a professional for a couple of months, in the afternoon.

That puts the Utah duo in a tie for first, ahead of Georgia's Jody Bellflower at 66 and 10 golfers who shot 67 on the cool, blustery day.

The fact that Schneiter doesn't play the Nationwide Tour on a regular basis made his score a bit surprising. But for Clegg to be at the top of the leaderboard is an absolute shocker.

Clegg just finished up his collegiate career at the University of Utah in May and immediately turned professional. He made a check in his first tournament at the Provo Open and has played in a handful of events in Europe and South Dakota. He qualified for this week's tourney by shooting a 67 in qualifying Monday at Wingpointe.

"I've been playing well this week, hitting my irons pretty close and making putts," said Clegg. "This week I'm putting as well as I've ever putted."

Clegg showed that early as he ran in a 30-foot putt at No. 11 (he started on the back nine) and rolled in a 40-footer at No. 13. His putts at 17 and 18 were less than 10 feet and Clegg made the turn at 4-under par.

On his back nine, Clegg sank putts of 12 and 15 feet for birdies on 3 and 4 and added a six-footer at No. 6. That put him in a tie for first with Schneiter but he fell back with a bogey at No. 8 when he hit his drive right. However, Clegg finished strong, knocking his 8-iron from 160 yards to within six feet for a birdie that put him atop the leaderboard.

Even though his name will go out all over the country in dozens of wire stories and in golf headlines on the Internet, Clegg is keeping things in perspective.

"It's still early in the week," he said. "Seven-under is nice, but 20-under usually wins the tournament. There's a long way to go."