Arizona too tough for Utah golfers

HIGHLAND — It was simply too deep a hole for the Utah team to climb out of in the annual Utah-Arizona Shootout match at Alpine Country Club.

The Utah side fell behind early in Monday's matches and, despite outscoring Arizona the rest of the way, it could never catch up as Arizona won the 19th annual competition 391/2-321/2 on Tuesday.

"We played well, but they played really well," said Utah captain Bill Probst.

After the first four matches of Monday's four-ball competition, Utah trailed 11-1 before making up some ground in the final two morning matches to trail by five points.

"That's where we lost it," Probst said of the early deficit.

Utah made up even more ground in the afternoon foursomes and cut the margin to four at 20-16 at the end of Monday's matches.

With three points available in each match (front nine, back nine, combined 18), Utah had a chance to win the trophy with a solid effort Tuesday.

With four matches complete Tuesday, Utah had made up the difference with eight points, thanks to Mike Hacker's 3-0 win over Frank Ellenberg, Rob Bachman's 2-1 win over Jim Pierce and Annette Gaiotti's 3-0 win over Marissa Muir.

Among the at-large players, Utah standouts were Tyson Lund and Dan Horner, who each won 21/2 points and Kirk Siddens, who won his match 2-1.

"We fought hard today," Probst said.

Utah's two senior players, Hacker and Bachman, were two of the top point-getters for the tournament for Utah with 71/2 and 61/2 points, respectively, while Gaiotti won 7 points in the two days.

Former University of Arizona golfer Matt Bergstrom was Arizona's top point-getter with 81/2 points over the two days.

"We had some really solid performances this week," said Michael Wog, Arizona's 28-year-old playing captain. "We had a lot of new people, and they played well."

Wog won his match over Darrin Overson 21/2-1/2 Tuesday and also won three points in the four ball Monday. In all, 10 of Arizona's players were playing in the annual matches for the first time.

Arizona's victory marked the fifth straight time the "visiting" team has won the annual competition, which now stands 10-9 in favor of Arizona.

Utah won last year's match 441/2-271/2 in Arizona, but has not won in Utah since 2001 at Hidden Valley Country Club.

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