| OCR Text |
Show Best young golfers converge BY BRADY BINGHAM_ Standard-Examiner staff bbingham@standard.net OGDEN The next Tiger Woods could walk the fairways of Ogden Golf and Country Club this week. The best junior players from Utah, California, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Washington, Montana, Nevada, Hawaii, Alberta, Canada, British Columbia, Canada and Mexico have traveled to Ogden to play in the 2006 Boys Junior America's Cup. Four-man teams all teenagers under the age of 17 who earned a spot on the team through their local associations from each location will play Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at the OGCC, which hosts the boys tournament for the third time. Although these guys are young, they definitely have game most have handicap indexes under 7.0. And, they also have history, as PGA stars like Woods, Phil Mickelson, Billy May-fair, Fred Couples, Scott Simpson and Jay Don Blake all participated in this tournament as junior players. Former Weber State University star Rob Despain an accomplished golfer who played in two British Junior Amateurs, the U.S. Junior Amateur and the Junior America's Cup, when it was at Ogden Country Club in 1976 will captain a very talented team from Utah with two Top of Utah stars on the squad. Fremont High School teammates Zac Blair and Denny Job will team with Tony Finau the reigning Utah State Amateur champion and his brother Gipper Finau to make a formidable team that believes they should contend for the championship. "I'm very excited for these guys," Despain said. "This is a very gifted and talented group of young players. These kids are playing really well and are just great players. "They come from some great golf stock," added Despain, speaking of the Utah kids' family golf history. Blair, the son of current Mulligan's North golf course owner and current player on the PGA's Champions Tour Jimmy Blair, is a relative chip of the 'ol block and brings many of his father's characteristics to the golf course. "He's still better than me," Zac Blair admitted, somewhat chagrined. "But we are very competitive. me," he added with a laugh. "I played in the Hogan Cup (last year) and I expect some of the same guys will be here," said Denny Job, speaking about the competition. "They're probably pretty good. But if we all play well, I think we have a chance." The Utah team also includes the Finau brothers two of the most accomplished juniors to play in the state. Tony, a 6-foot-2 senior-to-be at West |
