New Soldier Hollow is holding its own

MIDWAY— Just how has one of Utah's newest golf courses held up before the state's top amateur golfers this week?

Well, to some, it cried uncle.

Soldier Hollow got busted by the best and penalized players with a little chink in their game. But there is both rhyme and reason to the record-setting assault on the 2-year-old course.

Michael McRae ripped off a 62 on the Silver Course in his second round of medal play on Thursday. His scorecard looked like something you'd see on a putt-putt course with giant clown mouths.

His brother, Robert, fired an impressive 66 — nobody in the media sought him out for an interview.

The conditions were simply outstanding, according to UGA executive director Joe Watts, who used this venue to expand the tournament field from 150 to 300.

Soldier Hollow, a 36-hole layout carved into the mountainside west of Charleston near Midway in Heber Valley, is one of the state's outstanding golf additions. It features wide fairways protected by bunkers. The greens are fair and reasonable size.

But put a wind in play and the story changes, according to Watts. And that's what happened this week.

A set of near-windless days in this valley made Soldier Hollow vulnerable, its shields down most of the week.

Combine that with rainfall that softened up the greens before play started in the 108th State Amateur — and a guy as talented as defending champion Michael McRae absolutely can take it record low.

Match play continues today and concludes on Sunday.

"This is a championship golf course, a great layout and tremendous addition to golf in the state of Utah," Watts said. "We are lucky to have the State Amateur here. The players have liked it, they have enjoyed it and with those conditions being what they were, we saw some low scores."

The top five golfers in the field of 32 after rounds Wednesday and Thursday to clip down a field of 300 qualifiers, were Michael McRae (67-62 129); defending Public Links champion Clay Ogden (67-70 137); Casey Fowles (72-67 139); Greg Buckway (67-72 139) and Robert McRae (73-66 139).

They had a combined 51 birdies and two eagles. Their average score was 68.3, or nearly four-under par.