Mauss is Boss: Arizona State-bound Bowen Mauss downs BYU’s Simon Kwon to win 127th State Amateur

LOGAN — Although he made it to the Round of 16 at the U.S. Amateur two years ago as a 16-year-old golfing prodigy and he’s earned a scholarship to play for one of the biggest powers in college golf, Draper’s Bowen Mauss was not given much of a chance to knock off seasoned BYU stalwart Simon Kwon on Saturday in the 36-hole championship match of the 127th Utah State Amateur.

After all, Kwon was playing in his third final in four years, had won the 125th State Am at The Country Club in Salt Lake City two years ago and rolled into the championship match having barely been tested in his five previous matches.

Before Saturday, Kwon had not even played the 17th or 18th holes in the match-play portion of the longest continuously held golf tournament in the world.

Someone obviously forgot to tell Mauss he was a bit of an underdog. The curly haired blond who won the Salt Lake City Amateur in 2024 and then graduated from Corner Canyon High School two months ago fell behind by two holes through three — credit Kwon’s stellar play for causing that early deficit — but then took control of the match from there on out.

Nine holes later, after making a tap-in birdie on the par-5 12th hole, Mauss had a three-hole lead and that was that.

Kwon would never get closer than two holes the rest of the way at Logan Country Club.

Being called the State Am champion “sounds great,” said Mauss, who has signed to play for Arizona State this fall. “I have been wanting to win this for a long time. Everyone wants to win this. It is probably the most talked-about event of the year. Yeah, it feels great.”

When it was over, Kwon delivered the line of the day, ruefully saying, “I’ve been on both sides of the table” that holds the big silver trophy and separates the winner from the loser on the green where the match ended, which in this case was, fittingly, the No. 14 green.

Mauss took the 5 and 4 win when Kwon conceded on that green, the one visible from U.S. 89 as motorists head up Logan Canyon that used to be the old No. 5 green.

It hurts to lose “because you put so much into it,” said Kwon, who is now 16-3 in matches in his last four State Am appearances. “In stroke-play events, it hurts when you lose but it’s a little different. I give a lot mentally to it. I try to get myself a lot of energy and try to keep going, and so when you put a lot into it, it hurts when it (ends).”

With about 30 friends and family members following him every step of the way, including his parents — Justin and Jill — and having his brother, Jackson, caddy for him again, Mauss said the moment was as memorable as the time he made a run at the U.S. Amateur in Denver or the time he played in Utah’s PGA Tour event at Black Desert Resort in Ivins last fall.

“I mean, going into it, I always knew I could (win it), but not really … before today,” said Mauss, who edged his brother 1 up and 2023 runner-up David Liechty 1 up on Friday in the quarterfinals and semifinals.

“I got (more than) halfway through yesterday’s round (against Liechty) and I was three down with five to play and I knew not to give up, but I knew my chances were getting slim. But I have always believed in myself, that I could win.”

Mauss had a two-hole lead after 18, but Kwon had the momentum, having won No. 18 with a birdie to close the gap. After a break for lunch, Kwon hit an iron off the tee into the right rough and couldn’t recover, allowing Mauss — who had pulled driver and split the fairway — to regain his three-hole lead.

“I mean, a few holes, I didn’t love my body language,” Kwon said, when asked what he would have liked to have done better Saturday. “Like, win, lose, shooting 100 or shooting 60, I think I should have the same body language no matter what.

“I didn’t love my body language for four or five holes. It was a little bit down. But I’d like to say in my last couple holes, I held my head high.”

By then, it was all but over.

Even when Kwon rolled in a 25-footer for birdie on the match’s 24th hole and yelled “come on” at himself after cutting the deficit to four holes and then winning the next hole with a bogey, Kwon couldn’t make Mauss flinch.

“He played great golf,” Kwon said. “Bowen is a really good player, and he’s going to do some great things in golf. I can guarantee that.”

Saturday’s other winner was Logan Country Club, which proved to be an outstanding host for the most prestigious amateur golf event in the state. The club’s members made it memorable with their volunteer efforts, and the abundance of risk-reward holes made the setup perfect for match play in the State Am’s first return to the layout just east of Utah State University in 30 years.

Winning the State Amateur brings an automatic exemption into next month’s U.S. Amateur at Olympic Club in San Francisco, so Mauss will play in that before heading off to Arizona State and following in the footsteps of another past State Am champ, recently graduated Sun Devil Preston Summerhays.

Was this an upset? Not according to Mauss.

“I mean, Simon is an amazing player. He is obviously really good at match play. He has been (a finalist) three of the last four, something like that,” Mauss said.

“But I try to never look at it that way. I try and beat anyone I play, but I mean, it is always hard to beat someone like Simon, who is that good.”

On this day, however, Mauss was a little bit better.