Utah Championship golf: Trevor Murphy, Tyrone van Aswegen both fire course record 9-under 62

SANDY — Trevor Murphy simply wanted to make the cut. After shooting an even-par-71 in the opening round of the Web.com Tour's Utah Championship, he needed to fire at least 3-under to even make it to the weekend.

So, he went out at Willow Creek Country Club and shot a 9-under-62. No biggie — only tied the course record — not a big deal at all. Yeah, right.

"I probably would have taken makin' the cut at the start of the day," Murphy joked.

Now, what if he wasn't the only one to pencil in a 62, Friday?

Well, believe it or not, Tyrone van Aswegen actually did, too, 15-minutes earlier in the leading group — finishing 10-under.

"Who else did?" Murphy asked when told that he wasn't the only record-setter shortly after signing his scorecard. "Oh he did? He shot a 62? Nice."

Somewhat buried beneath the record-breaking rounds of van Aswegen and Murphy was another solid outing by Morgan Hoffmann. The 22-year-old, who was tied with two others at 7-under atop the leaderboard, took sole possession of first place behind his 4-under-67.

Doug LaBelle II, who also gunned an opening day 7-under, along with Andres Gonzales and van Aswegen, trail one stroke back at 10-under. Murphy and the 2010 Utah Championship winner, Michael Putnam, claimed the No. 3 spots at 9-under followed by seven golfers at 8-under.

The field was cut in half at 3-under heading into Saturday's "Pink on the Links" cancer awareness round.

The 30-year-old, South Africa native van Aswegen started Friday at 1-under-par, but thanks in large part to his short game, quickly changed his fortunes. On No. 8 he sunk a 30-foot right-to-left putt with 4-feet of break for birdie. Then, on No. 9 — his final hole — placed his approach shot inches from the cup for a tap-in birdie.

"It just seemed so easy. It's weird how sometimes you get in the zone," van Aswegen said. "It's hard to explain — like standing over the (second shot) on the last hole — I was like, 'man, this just feels comfortable and easy.'

"Yesterday, I burnt the edges all day long. It seemed like I was hitting great putts, (but) the balls were not going in the hole," he continued. "On my last hole yesterday I made about a 20-footer — the line and pace were perfect — and I guess it just opened up the flood gates."

It became clear that it was Murphy's day when he chipped in for eagle on No.17.

"I hit a great tee shot, I was in-between hybrid and 4-iron (and) I hit a 4-iron kind of short left," Murphy explained. "I had about 30-yards — I hit a great chip the whole way, one of those perfect shots."

Shooting 30 on the back nine alone, Murphy used his putting stroke as a crutch all day. In the first round, however, the "money" stick actually hindered his performance with several three-putts.

"Yesterday, I didn't putt as well. That was more speed than anything," Murphy said. "It's just a good, tough course and I hit a couple bad tee shots. I mean even par wasn't too bad, but it wasn't a 62."

What changed in 24-hours?

"I started a new putting technique this week, kind of how (Matt) Kuchar putts," Murphy said. "I actually ran into a buddy at my home course and he had just switched to it. He was like, 'hey, I got to show you this, hit a few putts with my new putter,' and I made every one of them. I just started putting this way."

Looks like it working.

Email: tphibbs@desnews.com