1 / 8

Connor Howe watches his tee shot from the 10th hole in the fourth round of the PGA Tour Bank of Utah Championship on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, at Black Desert Resort in Ivins.

JOE OLIVER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

2 / 8

Connor Howe, left, and his caddie and twin brother, Hunter, survey the 10th hole in the fourth round of the PGA Tour Bank of Utah Championship on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, at Black Desert Resort in Ivins.

JOE OLIVER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

3 / 8

Zac Blair walks the first green in the fourth round of the PGA Tour Bank of Utah Championship on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, at Black Desert Resort in Ivins.

JOE OLIVER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

4 / 8

Zac Blair walks back to his bag after teeing off on the first hole during the fourth round of the PGA Tour Bank of Utah Championship on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, at Black Desert Resort in Ivins.

JOE OLIVER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

5 / 8

Zac Blair pulls back to strike his tee shot on Hole 1 during the fourth round of the PGA Tour Bank of Utah Championship on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, at Black Desert Resort in Ivins.

JOE OLIVER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

6 / 8

Connor Howe, left, and his caddie and twin brother, Hunter, prepare for teeing off at Hole 10 during the third round of the PGA Tour Bank of Utah Championship on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, at Black Desert Resort in Ivins.

JOE OLIVER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

7 / 8

Connor Howe, center, walks to his bag after a 10th hole tee shot during the third round of the PGA Tour Bank of Utah Championship on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, at Black Desert Resort in Ivins.

JOE OLIVER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

8 / 8

Zac Blair, left, and caddie Joel Dahmen, center, survey the 18th hole green during the second round of the PGA Tour Bank of Utah Championship on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, at Black Desert Resort in Ivins.

JOE OLIVER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

❮ ❯

The Bank of Utah Championship has come and gone, and with it came a quality PGA Tour debut by Weber High alum Connor Howe and a handful of Northern Utah locals in action at Black Desert Resort for the tournament’s second stay in Ivins since teeing off last fall.

Howe found himself playing in top-10 company with eventual champion and Virginia native Michael Brennan, finishing 22-under for the $1.08 million purse, through the second round, and finished his final round even on Sunday for a three-way tie for 56th and $13,860 in prize money.

It’s an especially big break for Howe, who received sponsorship exemptions alongside Farmington native Preston Summerhays and Layton High alum David Liechty. Howe and BYU alum Zac Blair, who prepped at Fremont before turning pro in 2014, made the Friday cut to extend their rounds into the weekend.

Howe said his twin brother, Hunter, who played golf at Weber State and later at Utah, made his tour debut especially meaningful.

“It’s been awesome, kind of a dream come true to have my first PGA Tour start in my home state and have my twin brother on the bag and my family all down here,” Howe told TenGolf.

Turning pro in 2023 after graduating from Georgia Tech, Howe spent much of his initial years split between Canada (PGA Tour Americas) and the Korn Ferry Tour which made its debut in Ogden with the Utah Championship earlier this year.

Despite missing the Korn Ferry Tour’s latest postseason series, Howe approached his latest exemption opportunity no differently than any professional tournament that came before.

“Going into every win event, you’re trying to win,” Howe said. “You can’t win it on the first hole, so nothing really changed with my game plan going into the week. It was just wanting to take it one hole, and one shot, at a time and just keep the ball in front of me, do what I’ve been doing all year, just try add it up at the end and get the ball in the hole.”

With over 200 PGA Tour events played, Blair tied for 20th (3-under) in his homecoming return with a total payout of $63,214. Summerhays (4-over) and Liechty (9-over) missed Friday’s cut.

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