McRaes nab top 2 seeds

LEHI — They might not have talked about it, but they've certainly thought about it — meeting in the finals of the Utah State Amateur Golf Championship.

Heading into today's first round of match play at The Golf Club at Thanksgiving Point, brothers Michael and Robert McRae have the top two seeds. If they both win their matches today and continue to win, they could meet up in Sunday's 36-hole final. Actually, that's the earliest they could meet in the 32-player brackets.

"That would be pretty cool," Robert McRae said. "That would be like a dream come true."

But older brother Michael McRae, who earned medalist honors with rounds of 67-68, is a little more seasoned and knows there's a long road still to travel before that brother-brother match could ever happen.

"That's three days away, and I don't know how many matches away, so it's still a long ways off," Michael McRae said.

When word spread that Michael McRae posted a 3-under par on his first nine Thursday, which put him at 8-under for the tournament, everyone pretty much penciled him in as the medalist. Even though the steady St. Mary's College senior struggled in with two double-bogeys on his back nine, he still managed a 4-under 68 which was good enough for a 3-shot win over his younger brother and Willow Creek's Dan Horner, who both came in a 6-under 138. Robert McRae shot 67 on Thursday and Horner had the day's low round with a 66.

The medalist win is Michael McRae's first official State Am medalist title. He shot rounds of 62-67 last year at Soldier Hollow, but wasn't honored as official medalist because he was the defending State Am champion and was exempt into match play.

Even though seven players shot below 70 on Thursday, the scoring was much higher overall than Wednesday. Originally it looked like 146 or 147 would be the cut, but as the day ended 149 was good enough for a playoff. After McCoy Willey and Jeff Powers were eliminated in the playoff, the final five spots went to Ryan Job, BYU's Robbie Fillmore, Ike Tingey, Zach Bachman and David Poggi.

Dustin Pimm, with a 69 on Thursday, finished fourth at 139. Zack Blair was alone at 140. Tommy Sharp and Greg Buckway tied at 141. Jeff Kitches shot 143, with Scott Clark, Dan Bloechel, Brady Stanger and Nic Van Vuuren coming in at 144. Qualifying at 145 are Kirk Siddens, Carl Jensen, Mike Holm, Nick Nelson and Chance Cota. In at 146 are Matt McArthur, Nathan Page and Rick Lloyd. The 147 scores came from Kelly Peterson, Brady Boman and Todd Francis. Those who got in under the playoff by one are Steve Poulson, Steve Borget, Chris Gresh and Herb Lyons.