2026 Bank of Utah Championship: Johnny Keefer, Ben James and other young stars go low in desert

While the Bank of Utah Championship is being led by a pair of Tour veterans in Austin Smotherman and Doug Ghim, it was a quartet of relative newcomers that made the biggest splash on Saturday at the Black Desert Resort.

Johnny Keefer, David Ford, Ben James, and Kihei Akina are all 25 years old or young. All four sit inside the top 20 of the leaderboard , and all four got into the clubhouse with a bogey-free card on Moving Day.

Akina, 20, is the group's lone amateur. After representing the U.S. at the Walker Cup last month , the BYU sophomore opened with 67-67 over the first two rounds in the desert. His start Saturday was pretty unremarkable with four straight pars before he birdied the par-4 14th.

He circled again at the turn and went on to birdie four of five holes in the middle of his final nine holes.

"The whole day I had really solid feels of my approach play, so I was hitting the irons well and giving myself a lot of looks. 5, 6 and 7," he said of a stretch of three straight birdies. "I made really good putts there, and that kind of helped me finish well."

Keefer, the oldest of the group at 25, used an eagle at the par-7th to launch him into a tie for sixth entering Sunday's final round. The 2025 Korn Ferry Tour points list leader posted his second 62 in as many events.

His 9 under on Saturday matches his career low, which was set just two weeks ago during the third round of the Biltmore Championship.

"I feel like the game has been trending really nicely," Keefer told reporters after his round. "First two days I hit the ball off the tee great, and was just kind of waiting for my opportunities. Every now and then the putts would drop, was just kind of real steady, and then today obviously some more putts dropped."

Tune in to the final round of the Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort in Ivins, Utah.

The Baylor grad said he was looking forward to "go out and hunt" Smotherman and Ghim on Sunday. He sits six shots back of Smotherman's lead at 23 under.

James looked as if he would be tied with Keefer at 17 under but wound up with a birdie at the par-5 18th, circling the course's longest hole to move into a tie for third with Trace Crowe and Kevin Streelman at 18 under.

The 23-year-old Tour rookie made his debut at the RBC Canadian Open in June and his since finished inside the top five three times, including a runner-up at the Biltmore where he shot a final round 61 .

He opened 65-66 in Utah before putting together a blemish-free, 7-under 64.

"Did everything I was supposed to do, hit pretty much every fairway and cleaned up around the green well," the University of Virginia product told Golf Channel's Amy Rogers after his round. "I made a lot of putts inside of eight feet which I needed to do and I didn't make any crazy mistakes."

Ford sits T-9 with three others after posting a 65 — his second such score this week after putting together five birdies, an eagle and a bogey on the opening round on Thursday.

The 24-year-old UNC alum finished inside the top 20 of the American Express and the Puerto Rico Open earlier in the year before taking five months off between April's Valero Texas Open and the Biltmore — the Tour's fall season kick-off.

"I have nothing to lose tomorrow. I'm going to play the best I can, try to hit smart shots, and if the putts fall, great," said James, sounding like his peers who entered the clubhouse earlier with similar low scores. "If not, go on to the next week."

As far as peers are concerned, it is hard for any player in college or who has graduated recently to match the profile of Jackson Koivun.

The 21-year-old Auburn sensation starred for the U.S. at Medinah during the Presidents Cup last week and birdied the final hole Friday to make the cut in Utah.

On Saturday, he birdied three of his final five holes on his first nine before stumbling over his final nine holes.

After bogeys at No. 2 and No. 8, Koivun finished with a 2-under 70 and sits T-61 at 7 under on the tournament.

Five days after helping the U.S. to a Presidents Cup win at Medinah, Jackson Koivun found himself facing the projected cut in Utah. He fought off the nerves with three birdies over his final five holes to reach 6 under and make it to the weekend.