Ep 1154: David Liechty, Navy Hubbs Take Winterchamps

Yeah, I bought a new putter like two days ago and I was the first tournament with it and

I just made everything I looked at.

I think I had 11 putts on the front line, so and it was like my ball striking was fine.

Like it wasn't anything special.

It was just like if I was on the green, there was like a solid chance I was making it.

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Utah Tech Freshman David Lickty won the opening event in the UGA Championship season, Winter Champs.

In this stable furred event played over 36 holes at two different courses, Copper Rock and Sun River.

Lickty scored 96 points for a four point margin of victory over Kenny Palmer.

Peyton Hastings was in third at 88 points.

Defending champion Drake Harvey was in fourth with 87 points and Ben Wilson rounded out the top five.

He was in fifth with 86 points.

Lickty won on the strength of an opening round 61 in stroke play numbers.

A competitive course record at Copper Rock that was good for a staggering 58 points.

It was a hyper hot putting day for Lickty.

He made a ton of puts.

You'll hear about that in a minute.

On his way to a round that featured nine birdies with one eagle for a clean card 61.

The backside was Sysland.

Six birdies and an eagle for a 28 on the closing nine.

The second round at Sun River was a bit more of an adventure.

It featured five birdies, which is always good and doubly so in a stable furred event.

But it remarkably oddly featured three double bogies.

But Lickty hung on scoring 38 points just slightly more than a round of 18.

Pars would net him.

And that was good for the total of 96 points and a four point win.

This is the second big event.

Lickty has won at Sun River having claimed victory in the southern Utah open at Sun River a couple years ago.

We caught up with Lickty after his round.

Here is the 2026 winter champs champion David Lickty.

David, congratulations.

Yeah, thank you.

Is this your first UGA championship?

The depends on what you classify as a UGA championship.

This is my first between the winter champs and the stadium.

But I've won a couple like amateur PPR events are great.

Okay.

This is the first UGA championship you've won.

Yeah, this is the first one.

It's pretty cool, man.

It's really a great thing.

And this is a fun tournament to win because of the format.

But holy cow, we need to talk about your round at Copper Rock yesterday.

I don't care what the format was.

That was spectacular.

Tell us about it.

Yeah.

I bought a new putter like two days ago.

And I was the first tournament with it.

And I just made everything I looked at.

I think I had 11 pots on the front line.

So, and it was like my ball striking was fine.

Like it wasn't anything special.

It was just like if I was on the green, there was like a solid chance I was making it.

Okay, so I want to know what the putter is because we're going to go get one.

Yeah.

It's the same one as Scotty Shuffler's using.

Yeah, just the spider.

So, yeah.

Okay.

Fantastic.

So you build up this big lead after the 61 at Copper Rock.

And look, you still hold everything out.

That was still a competitive record on that golf course.

Coming out here, Sun River today, knowing what you had to do, you didn't did it.

What was the mental process like knowing what you had to do?

Yeah.

I mean, having a five shot or eight point, I don't know how that transfers.

Lead is nice.

But it was kind of just like, it could especially was stable for it.

It could be gone pretty quick.

Like someone could make a couple birdies and it's your right back.

So, I got off to a pretty bad start.

I made like bogey double to start and I was like, okay, well, it's going to be closer than we wanted it to be.

But kind of, I think I hit a really good shot on three.

It was like, I can't remember how far it was, but straight into the win.

I hit like a flight at four iron to 25 feet and that settled me down a little bit.

But it was just kind of, I don't know, I had a lot of mistakes today.

Like, I need to clean that up.

I think I had three doubles and I was talking to Oscar in the cart today.

I was like, I think the only way someone wins a tournament with three doubles is if it's a stable for a tournament,

if you shoot 61 the first day and if it's going 40 miles an hour.

And I got all three of those today.

Yes, you did.

Yes, you did.

But you had your dad out there with you today.

And in addition, your coach at Utah Tech, Brad Setterfield, was that a calming influence for you?

Yeah, for sure.

I mean, I love both those guys.

They've been great people in my life.

Especially Setter for the last six months getting to know him a little more has been cool.

I mean, I'm known my dad my whole life.

I'm not at all putting him down.

He's absolutely amazing.

He's one of my favorite people on the planet.

But yeah, it's been cool getting to know Setter as well and having another person to look up to.

Yeah, we all understand that.

That's really cool.

We need to talk about Sunriver.

This course has been good to you.

You have been really good on it.

Yeah.

What is it about Sunriver that makes you feel like this?

I think some of it's like the par 5s, like the three par 5s on the back 9.

It gives you a lot of chances to make birdies.

And then I think it just like kind of suits my eye pretty well.

I mean, I've thought about it a lot.

And I'm not entirely sure why I do well here.

But I kind of tend to do well.

So I'll just keep doing that.

Well, Southern Utah open and the winter champs.

Yeah, that's pretty good.

What does it mean to you to get this trophy?

Yeah, I mean, it means so much.

I think, like, I just, I love winning golf tournaments.

It's like, it's nice to get another win on the red belt.

I have had a couple rough months.

Like, my swing hasn't felt great.

Been kind of slapping it around.

So to get a win, it means a lot.

It means my game is trending.

So yeah, just keep it up.

All right.

Well, congratulations.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Salem Hills High Senior Navy Hubs wins the women's division

at winter champs.

And in doing so becomes the youngest player to carry two US.

And in doing so becomes the youngest player to win two UGA major champs.

Adding this title to the Utah junior stadium she won last year.

Hubs had 76 stable fird points for a three point margin of victory over Jane Olson,

who came in at 73.

Mia Ciceric came in in third place at 68 points.

And Samantha Falen, 66 points was solo fourth.

Kate Walker and Rachel Lilley White round out the top five.

They were T5 at 63 points.

Notably, Olson Ciceric Falen are all Utah tech teammates.

And Walker will join them next year.

Hubs had a colorful card in her opening round at Sun River,

featured six birdies, four bogies in a double on her way to New York.

A double on her way to her opening round of 43 points.

The closing round at Copper Rock turned into a bit of a survival test

after really nice and calm and lovely weather on Saturday.

Sunday turned nasty and it was especially so at Copper Rock cold and windy.

And Hubs got through it all, even though she had two X's on her card.

Of course, in a stable fird event, once you really get out of position,

you can just pick up and it's all the same, no points on the whole.

But it was more than enough to get the job done.

And again, she came in with a three point margin of victory.

We caught up with Hubs after her round.

Here is the 2026 Winter Champs Women's Champion, Navy Hubs.

Navy, congratulations, you got another UGA championship well played.

Thank you, thank you so much.

So this one was hard in a lot of ways.

Let's just talk about the playing conditions to start with.

The opening day, Saturday, Saturday was a lovely day.

Sunday left so.

Copper Rock, the fan turned on and it was chilly as well.

Tell us about that for you.

Yeah, the first day, it was awesome.

It was amazing weather.

And then the second day, it was just windy, windy conditions.

And it was cold in the morning and stayed a little chilly,

but the wind was just so strong the whole day.

But you know, it's a good test to see how you can play different shots.

But yeah, it was tough.

It was indeed.

And yet in those cold, windy conditions,

you started off really strong going par birdie par on the day.

Tell us about your three on the par four second.

Yeah, that one though, wind was just behind us.

So I just let loose on the driver and got it up close to the green.

And I had a little bit of a tricky chip, but I just like hit it in the front of the green

and let it bounce up there and luckily got it close enough to just tap it in for birdie,

which felt nice to get off to a smooth start.

But yeah.

Yeah, sometimes those short shots downwind can get away from you in a hurry.

Yeah, definitely.

So things were tight.

Your main competitor was Jane Olson,

whom you ended up beating by three points when it was all said and done.

Tell us about the things are tight on the front nine.

You make the turn, you go to the back,

but that's really where things turned around.

You go birdie par birdie, 10, 11, 12.

And she at the same time was going par, bogey par.

So made up a bunch of points in that three whole stretch.

Pretty crucial.

Tell us about that.

Yeah, the whole day I honestly didn't know where I was sitting.

I honestly thought I was losing.

I had no idea because she was just playing so well on the front.

And so when I made the turn, I was just like, well,

let's just try to get as many points back as we can.

And so I just started focusing on the process.

And yeah, I had no idea, but I'm glad that I just fought through it.

Did you know where things stood coming down the stretch?

Because you opted to were forced to pick up on 18.

Did you know you had it in the bag at that point?

Where were things in that difficult finishing stretch at Copper Rock?

Honestly, I thought I had lost.

I think that I had won it all.

But so when I finished and picked up, I was like,

just assuming that Jane had won.

And then my dad came up to me and gave me a hug.

And it's like, good job.

I'm like, what are you talking about?

So I had no idea which honestly probably helped not knowing.

So my nerves were not as bad.

But yeah, 18 was a little bit of a struggle of a hold to finish.

But yeah, I had no idea.

Well, 18 is a good finishing hold.

That whole stretch from 15 in up on the ridge exposed to the wind

and then coming down the hill, 18 good finish regardless of conditions.

But more so.

Yeah.

More so like today.

How much of it was an endurance test for you?

It was a lot, especially with the conditions today.

It was just like pushing through every hole.

I'm just in the beginning with our delay.

It was already like, let's just get going already.

But yeah, it was a it was a test the whole time.

So I'm glad I endured it and just pushed through.

You of course won the Utah State Junior, the junior state amp.

And that that was a great tournament and a great win there.

This one you're competing against the adults.

What does it and that makes you one of the youngest winners ever in this event?

What does that mean to you to win an adult UGA championship?

I think it's awesome because I love playing against with adults and called players

because it can show you where you stand with others and like what you need to work on.

How they react to the game and what you can improve on and learn from them.

So I honestly love playing with them because I learn a lot.

Like when I was playing with Jane today, her chipping is amazing.

Like the best I probably have ever seen.

So it was like, well, I want my chipping to be there.

So I just learn a lot every time that I get to play with these players.

So it's amazing.

That's really cool.

So what's next for you?

I got a couple of tournaments coming up.

I'm actually playing with Kate Walker in the next UGA.

It's like a duo match.

I'm not quite sure the exact thing, but we're going to play that together.

And then I've just got more junior tournaments this coming up in the summer.

And I start high school season tomorrow.

My first tournament tomorrow.

So that's right.

So just getting prepared for those tournaments.

And now the ups on tour.

Just the event just preparing for that to be the best prepared I can.

So yeah, and that's the thing I wanted to ask about next before we let you go.

You get a ticket to a pretty big show.

Tell us what you think about that and what it means to you to get that kind of experience.

Yeah, I honestly had no idea what it actually was.

So after one, she was telling me about it.

I was like, whoa, this is, this is amazing.

So I'm just, I'm excited that I'm able to go and see how I compared to these amazing players

who are trying to go LPGA.

And I'm just excited to go learn and have no experience.

Just going to be amazing.

Have you been out there in previous years and watched the ups and tours when it's come to Copper Rock?

I have not, no, I only went to the Soldier Hollow one game, but I haven't been to Copper Rock.

Well, you will see great golf and there was great golf at Soldier.

And so, you know, that's, that's what it'll be.

And now you're going to be pegging it right alongside him.

I'm, I'm really excited to see that myself.

Yeah, me too. It'll be a good, good experience.

All right. Well, Navy, thank you so much.

And congratulations. What a terrific win.

And it brings more. So we'll have more to talk about in the future.

But really nicely done, really nice win.

Thank you so much.

Well, that holds the sound of the previous episode of Utah Golf Radio.

Big thanks to David Lickie and Maiden Hugs.

Our intro is voiced by L.D. Weller.

Our theme music is composed by Preston Pugmeyer and performed by National Holiday.

Be sure to tune in next time and we'll be getting more from inside the ropes on all things golf in Utah.

Tell your friends about it and show them where you get this pod or check the sound on the homepage of UGA.org.

Thank you for listening. I'm Paul Pugmeyer.

This is Utah Golf Radio presented by Fairways Magazine.

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