OGDEN — Julian Suri played what he described as a “nice” front nine at 3-under 32 in Sunday’s final round of the Utah Championship before what he called a “brain fart,” a three-putt for bogey on the par-4, 496-yard 10th hole.
Turns out, he was just getting started.
The 34-year-old former Duke golfer from New York birdied five of the final eight holes at Ogden Golf and Country Club to capture his first title on the Korn Ferry Tour, carding 7-under-par 63 in Sunday’s final round to clinch the win by two strokes.
“I think in some ways that woke me up a little bit and refocused me,” he said of the run that started with an 8-iron on the par-3, 198-yard 11th hole that left him with a six feet for one of his eight birdies in the round.
It’s the first victory in 16 tries on the Korn Ferry Tour this season for Suri, whose 38 total starts included a tie for second at the Veritex Bank Championship back in April.
After that near-victory in Arlington, Texas, Suri missed the cut in six of his next nine starts on the PGA’s top developmental tour. He rebounded with a tie at 15th at last week’s NV5 Invitational, posting scores in the 60s in three of the four rounds en route to a $14,116.67 pay day.
In the Beehive State, he out-did himself.
Suri shot 69-66-64 in the first three rounds, but saved his best work for Sunday with a 63 that included 4-under 31 on the back nine.
That helped hold off Spencer Levin, Barend Botha and Trace Crowe, who each a four-day total of 16-under 264 to tie for second, as well as third-round leader Taylor Montgomery, the former two-time Sand Hollow Open champion from Las Vegas who shot even-par 70 in Sunday’s finale.
After he rolled in his birdie putt on the par-4, 463-yard 18th hole, Suri couldn’t help but think about the past several years, either, where he’s played mostly in Europe with 16 starters scattered on last year’s Korn Ferry Tour and a pair of PGA Tour appearances back in 2022.
“I played in a lot of big events with big-time players and fans and stuff,” said Suri, the son of an Indian father and Mexican mother, both first-generation immigrants, who credits his brother for keeping him in the game even though he’s “very tough on me.”
“You don’t always get that in these events, especially when you’re not playing great, so you miss that,” he added. “As a performer, as an athlete, you want to be where the crowds are and on the biggest stages, that’s what we dream of as kids.”
Preston Summerhays, the former two-time Utah state amateur champion who grew up in Farmington before his family moved to Arizona prior to his collegiate career, shot 65 to finish in a six-way tie for seventh at 15-under 265.
The recent pro out of Arizona State carded five birdies during a bogey-free round that earned him a $26,692 check in his fourth career start at the event (but first as a pro).
“It’s always nice to come back home, to see family and friends, and have really good support out here,” said Summerhays, whose father Boyd helped coach him through the weekend and sister Grace caddied.
Preston Summerhays checks the wind during the final round of the 2025 Utah Championship at Ogden Golf & Country Club in Ogden on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025. (Photo: Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News)
Former BYU golfers Daniel Summerhays, Peter Kuest and Cole Ponich each finished in a 15-way tie for 22nd with a $7,839 check attached.
Kuest played bogey-free golf highlighted by an eagle on the par-5, 559-yard 15th hole to finish his four-day round with a 6-under 64. Summerhays was in the top-10 after Saturday’s third round before carding three bogeys with a birdie on the final six holes en route to even-par 70.
Ponich, the former Davis High standout who won the Provo Open in his professional debut before making his Korn Ferry Tour debut this weekend in Ogden, carded five birdies en route eto a 3-under 67.
The top-25 finish helps Ponich qualify for next week’s Pinnacle Bank Championship in Omaha, Nebraska. Another, and the recent pro will have a strong shot at the Korn Ferry Tour playoffs before he goes to Q-school in the fall.
Former Weber High standout Connor Howe shot 66 Sunday to finish at 11-under 269, tied for 37th, and former University of Utah golfer Mitchell Schow finish tied for 54th at 8-under 272.
As for Suri, the first-time Korn Ferry Tour winner had a pretty simple idea for how to celebrate his $180,000 prize purse.
“I’ve got a 6:30 flight to Omaha tomorrow, so maybe I’ll reward myself with a changed flight a little bit later for some sleep,” he said with a grin. “I mean, the job’s not finished.
“You know, you’ve just got to keep going. It’s fun, we’ll celebrate tonight, but come Tuesday morning you’re back at it in Omaha and you’re trying to do this all over again.”
Utah Championship — winners and select local finishes1 — Julian Suri, 69-66-64-63 (-18)T7 — Preston Summerhays, 69-64-67-65 (-15)T22 — Peter Kuest, 70-67-67-64 (-12)T22 — Cole Ponich, 66-67-68-67 (-12)T22 — Danny Summerhays, 69-63-66-70 (-12)T37 — Connor Howe, 65-67-68-66 (-11)T54 — Mitchell Schow, 71-66-66-69 (-8)
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.