By BRADY BINGHAM
Standard-Examiner staff
LAYTON — There was no report of a swarm of bees invading Valley View Golf Course. But the buzz Thursday morning at the Utah State Amateur was loud and clear.
Chatter continued about the way the challenging track at Valley View had surrendered a pair of 6-under-par 66s — to Ben Schilleman and Robbie Fillmore — during Wednesday’s opening round of the tournament. For years, the winning score at the Valley View Am has been no better than 67.
“Believe me, if we wanted to, we could have set this course up to be impossible,” said Valley View assistant pro Dave Loughton, hinting that their goal was to set up the course to showcase good golf and good players.
That was the result Wednesday. While Fillmore and Schilleman were brilliant, only eight players posted rounds in the 60s. Only 20 golfers in the 156-man field broke par.
“It was fair out there on Wednesday, and it will be again today,” Loughton said. “It will get tougher as the tournament goes on.”
Utah Golf Association’s Ronnie Newren added, “We had a pace of play issue to consider also. We can’t make conditions so tough that it slows down play.”
Newren and Loughton agreed that could have happened the first days at Valley View.
