Liechty claimed the 2025 TalonsCove Amateur Championship in Saratoga Springs over the weekend, carding 11-under with rounds of 67 and 66 to defeat first-round leader Devin Tovey. Randy Dodson of Fairways Media first reported Liechty’s victory via Instagram.

The former Lancer standout already made quite the impression at the Utah Men’s State Amateur in Logan earlier this month, where Liechty finished in the top four following a nerve-wrecking battle with 127th amateur champion and Arizona State commit Bowen Mauss.

This fall, Liechty joins Cole Taylor (Kaysville) and Tanner Telford (Mountain Green) as the third Northern Utahn featured on the Trailblazers roster for the 2025-26 season.

Benson bests the field at World Teen Championship

Morgan High’s Jace Benson set lofty goals for his first summer away from his prep team, and the 15-year-old phenom checked off another key item on Saturday, winning the 15-to-18 division at the 2025 World Teen Championship in Pinehurst, North Carolina.

Benson finished 5-under with 11 total birdies across three rounds, squeezing past Nakul Shrivastava of San Ramon, California, and Blake Brown of Highland, who shared the title of second place. It’s the second victory of the summer for Benson, who previously won his first-ever Utah Men’s State Amateur Qualifier at Glen Eagle Golf Course in June.

However, Benson and Brown weren’t the only Utahns in the mix.

Ammon Allred of St. George forced a three-way tie with Vihaan Jain of Gurugram, India, and Aston Lim of Union City, California, for 10th overall with 1-over. Mack Herzog of Ogden finished 4-over for a quarter-share of 18th overall; Tyse Boman of Draper finished 6-over to join a five-way tie for 28th place.

Ponich joins Utah Championship field

Another Utah favorite has joined the lineup for the 2025 Utah Championship, teeing off Thursday at Ogden Golf and Country Club.

BYU graduate and 2024 Utah Men’s State Amateur champion Cole Ponich is slated to join the Utah Sports Commission’s sponsor exemption list, filling the place of Fresno, California, native Peter Kuest, who qualified for the tournament outright, according to Jay Drew of Deseret News.

Ponich joins Connor Howe, a Weber High alum turned pro in 2023, and Kihei Akina, a Lone Peak alum and member of the 2025 U.S. National Junior Team, as the exemption card for this year’s championship.

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