The philosophy has taken the 47-year-old New Jersey native this far; why stop now?

Horner, a Sandy resident and 20-year veteran of the Utah Men’s State Amateur Championship, won his 51st match play appearance as the No. 36 seed on Wednesday, finishing 4-up with three holes remaining to defeat No. 29 Emery Thomas.

Utah golf alum Martin Leon, the No. 4 seed, will be Horner’s opponent in the round of 32, beginning Thursday morning at Logan Country Club. Going 19 holes with Tyler Ewell, Leon squandered a 2-stroke lead on the front nine and led three times on the back nine; The Chile native edged out Ewell on the 19th hole, carding 70 on a warm afternoon.

With his 35th match-play victory, Horner (35-16) inches closer to Bill Korns’ record 37 wins at the State Amateur, according to Kurt Kragthorpe of Fairways Media.

Randy Dodson, Fairways Media

“It’s a cool thing to have, but that’s not why I’m playing in it,” Horner said. “I just enjoy competing and so I’ll go out and have a fun match tomorrow, and if I win a few more matches, or whatever it is — I’m not trying to chase records but at the same time, it would be a cool thing and it’s cool to play the most matches, and it would be cool to have won the most matches.”

A three-time Mid-Amateur champion, Horner used one stroke to defeat Kenny Palmer for his third title at Bonneville Golf Course in Salt Lake City last spring. This year’s State Amateur, however, saw Horner in slightly unfamiliar territory at Logan Country Club, a course where he can only recall playing about three rounds before.

This year’s split-program between Logan and Eagle Mountain Golf Course in Brigham City brought a twist to stroke play, Horner said.

“I’m getting more familiar with it, but I think it’s different,” Horner said. “You might dread certain holes in medal play more than match play, because there are a lot of others out there in the stroke play portion. You get into that fescue, it’s easy to lose a ball and the course is super narrow, so I think it’s a little different. Match play, it’s not as intimidating, some of those shots; they’re still hard, but maybe not as scary.”

On Tuesday, Horner finished 6-over between both Logan and Eagle Mountan in an 11-way tie for 33rd overall. He’d add eight strokes to his finished round in Logan.

Horner bounced back on Wednesday, claiming a three-stroke lead on Thomas through the first three holes.

Horner has seen several brands of golfer at the annual tournament, but he always boils every match down to the same construct.

“It just depends on what your opponent does,” Horner said. “Kind of my strategy was just to play fairly conservative and see how it shook out. … People are just going to make mistakes out there, so if you can play consistently and not make the mistakes, you’re probably going to be given a few holes — you’re just trying not to give the holes back.

“It’s a hard strategy to maintain over the course of the tournament.”

The field returns to Logan on Thursday for two rounds, deciding Friday’s quarterfinals picture. Tee times for Thursday were not available by Wednesday evening, but schedule information is updated regularly at golfgenuis.com.

Horner knows there’s a bit of history following him into Thursday, and it’ll take two solid rounds before he can claim it. But that’s not quite the nugget that keeps him coming back again and again, summer after summer.

The game itself has been enticing enough for Horner to stick around.

“I’m kind of part of it, right?” Horner said. “I’ve been doing it for the last 20 years and it’s an event I look forward to every year. It’s not something planning around being gone, it’s moreso making sure I’m in town so I can participate because the UGA does a great job and I want to continue to play in it.”

Round of 32 pairings (Thursday)

• No. 1 Noah Schone, No. 33 Calvin Lillywhite

• No. 2 Bowen Mauss, No. 31 Zach Felts

• No. 3 David Liechty, No. 30 Noah Moody

• No. 4 Martin Leon, No. 36 Dan Horner

• No. 5 Tyson Shelley, No. 37 KJ Ofahengaue

• No. 9 Jackson Shelley, No. 41 Austin Shelley

• No. 10 Jackson Mauss, No. 23 Ty Anderson

• No. 12 Simon Kwon, No. 44 Daren Johnson

• No. 13 John Fox, No. 20 Jacob Marx

• No. 15 Jared McCleary, No. 47 Jacob Randall

• No. 49 Tyse Boman, No. 48 Devin Andrews

• No. 57 Daniel Griffiths, No. 40 Sean Lam

• No. 58 Gavin Dosch, No. 39 Will Pizza

• No. 59 Danny Hafen, No. 38 Lucas Schone

• No. 51 Brendan Thomas, No. 46 Maddox Vincent

• No. 11 Jack Summerhays, No. 43 J.J. Tomsick

Connect with reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.