Former Ute Golfers Eric Hogg, Doug Bybee Inducted into Utah Golf Hall of Fame

SALT LAKE CITY – Former Ute golfers Doug Bybee and Eric Hogg are two of seven inductees in the Utah Golf Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024, the state’s most exclusive sports club.
 
The two golfers will be inducted into a 55-golfer membership that has brought in classes of historic golfers in Utah since 1991, with each class being honored every four years. Bybee and Hogg’s impressive careers overlapped at the University of Utah on the same roster for a couple of seasons while battling each other in a State Amateur final match in 1981. This match-up was the first time two Utes faced each other in the State Am Final as Mitchell Schow and Blake Tomlinson added their names to the exclusive category in 2020.
 
Bybee spent all four years with the Utes from 1978-82 and claimed the team captain role for his senior season while earning All-Conference honors in the WAC. Hogg spent two years on the team from 1980-82 and earned a spot in the NCAA Championship as an individual in his sophomore season.
 
UTAH GOLF HALL OF FAME STORY
 
DOUG BYBEE
In one of the more poignant scenes of a State Amateur awards presentation, Doug Bybee’s voice caught in 1990 as he referenced two previous losses in final matches and managed to say, “Third time’s the charm, I guess.”
 
Six years later, his “third time” phrase took on a whole new meaning. Bybee became the storied tournament’s first three-time winner in 37 years, joining Utah Golf Hall of Fame member Lou North. And it keeps getting better: After more than another quarter-century, nobody has matched Bybee’s achievement.
 
Fair to say, Bybee has been more closely associated with State Amateur match-play success than any golfer since six-time champion Billy Korns in the 1940s (two of North’s wins came in stroke play). His record of 43 matches played was topped only by Dan Horner in 2023; with 33 wins, Bybee and Horner trail only Korns (37).
 
“There’s only one guy that leaves the State Am happy,” Bybee said. “That’s the cool thing that makes it even better. It’s always better when it’s something that’s really important to you. It’s even harder to win.”
 
The expression “Par ’em to death” should go on Bybee’s Hall of Fame plaque. “I don’t necessarily strategize that way, it’s just the nature of my game,” Bybee said in the book “100 Years of the Utah State Amateur.”
 
Yet…