THEY’RE EVERYWHERE! : Utah’s Summerhays Families Put 11 Golfers in Tournament

What? Huh? How? Where?

Like ubiquitous Droopy Dog in the old cartoon, everywhere you looked, there they were.

In the clubhouse, on the links, there they were. Run to your car and drive someplace else at 100 miles per hour, and they already were there.

Check out any one of the four golf venues Wednesday during the 22nd Optimist Junior World Championship, and there they were, a whole posse of them, with innocent grins that implied, “What took you so long, bub?”

There were four at Presidio Hills (10-and-under division), three at Torrey Pines (15-17), two at Balboa Park (13-14) and two at Singing Hills (11-12).

They are the Summerhays entourage, 11 golfers from two related families plus a supporting cast of five.

They have been coming to San Diego each summer since 1981 for the fun and competition of the Junior World, the largest international junior golf tournament in the world with 733 entrants representing 33 countries and 35 states.

The Summerhays family alone makes up 31% of the 35 entrants from Utah.

And they are not just here in quantity. They also happen to be pretty good golfers, some of them very good. Of course, that would come as no surprise to Utah. Golf is in the family’s blood.

Bruce, Lynn and Gary Summerhays were captains of their golf teams at the University of Utah.

Bruce, a golf coach at Stanford during the 1970s, once finished third in the Bing Crosby Pro-Am. He now designs courses and is a golf pro in Heber (population 4,000, near Park City).

He and and his wife, Carolyn, have five of their eight children entered this year (sons Joseph, 17, Will, 16, and Bruce, 11, and daughters Susanna, 13, and Carrie, 9) and daughter Rachel, 15, is scoring for the tournament. An older son, Bryan, 21, has played here in the past. He, Shelly, 23, and Bruce Sr. (playing in the Colorado Open) are the only family members not here.

Lynn Summerhays, a real-estate developer, and his wife, Ann, live in Farmington (population 6,000, near Salt Lake City). They have six of their seven children in the tournament (sons David, 17, Spencer, 11, Boyd, 10, and Danny, 5, and daughters Elizabeth, 13, and Mary, 7). Rebecca, 15, is scoring.

Gary Summerhays lives in Sacramento, where he coaches, among other things, golf at Del Campo High. It’s a shame none of his 11 kids could make it.

“The kids really look forward to this,” Lynn said “They all have such great memories of this tournament and of San Diego. We really don’t care if any one of them has any higher aspirations than this. But it sure is fun. It’s a great game. Really keeps the family together.”

Said Carolyn, who pointed out that each child is also an honor student, “We don’t believe in giving them formal (golf) lessons. We won’t until they ask for them.”

Joseph and David, who will be seniors in high school, have been chosen to play on the Junior America’s Cup team in two weeks in Northern California. Joseph was the Utah Junior Golf Assn. player of the year in 1988, as were Elizabeth, Carrie and Boyd in their age groups.

After Wednesday’s second round, Boyd is leading the boys’ 10-and-under by three strokes with rounds of 51 and 53. His 104 leads San Diego’s Paul Spangler.

In the boys’ 15-17, Joseph (two-day total of 149), David (154) and Will (156) trail Matt Todd (143) of Visalia and Randy Briggs (143) of Monmouth, Ill.

Other divisions shape up like this after two rounds:

Brandie Burton of Rialto shot her second consecutive 72 to lead the girls’ 15-17 with a 144 over Nicole Horner of Mililani, Hawaii, who has a 146.

In the 13-14 division, Cypress’ Eldrick Woods (144) and Laguna Niguel’s Scott Richardson (145) are leading the boys. Laguna Hills’ Eunice Choi (151) is five shots ahead among the girls.

The Philippines’ Juan Rocha (112) and Carmelette Villaroman (117) lead the boys’ and girls’ 11-12 divisions.

Elisa Au of Kamuela, Hawaii, has a commanding five-stroke lead in the girls’ 10-and-under division.

Notes

The San Diego Junior Golf Assn. has been recognized as the top municipal junior golf program in the United States according to Golf Digest. Norrie West, director of the SDJGA, will receive an award from the magazine Friday, the final day of the Junior World. All divisions, except the boys’ and girls’ 15-17, conclude play today after 54 holes. The 15-17 ends Friday after 72 holes.