Southern Utah doesn’t ease you in. You drive out past Sand Hollow and the red rock just keeps going, black lava fields running into green fairways, and it hits you that somebody actually decided to build golf courses out here. We’re glad they did.

K2K18 was a core-four trip, just Terry, Andy, Chris, and Ben, setting up camp around Hurricane in May 2025 with Sky Mountain, Black Desert, and plenty of desert sunsets on the docket.

Hurricane itself felt a little like The Truman Show, as if the town had been built for us the week before we got there. Everything was brand new, including the house we rented, and yet we hardly saw a soul. Fresh pavement, perfect landscaping, empty streets. It was beautiful and a little eerie, and every so often somebody would glance around and ask if we were being filmed. It ended up being the most statistically ridiculous week in K2K history, and it finished with one of the strangest endings any golf trip has ever had.

The Round

Sky Mountain is where the record book got rewritten. Terry went out and posted a 69, the lowest round in K2K history, and did it with eight birdies, which is also a K2K record. Eight. On a buddies trip. Those of us who’ve played with Terry since 2008 know what a heater looks like, and this one was different. It was the kind of round you keep checking the card on because you don’t quite believe it.

The Grind

Quota scoring was built for weeks like this, though, and it rewards the steady hand over the hot one. Ben quietly racked up points round after round. He wasn’t flashy, he just kept doing it, and he went into the final day right on Terry’s heels on the leaderboard.

The Finish

Naturally it came down to the last hole. Terry, standing on the green with the Cup in reach, three-putted, and suddenly we had a sudden-death playoff. Terry steadied himself, won the playoff, and the celebration was on.

Then somebody went back over the card.

On review, the quota math had been added up wrong. With the points tallied correctly, Ben had actually won by one point in regulation, on the last hole, before any playoff was needed. The playoff never should have happened. Ben Thompson claimed his 2nd K2K Cup.

The Takeaway

Terry walks away with two records that might stand for a long time, plus the most painful asterisk in tournament history. Ben walks away with the Cup and a permanent lesson for all of us: check the math before you pop the champagne.

Utah, you were beautiful, brutal, and a little bit cruel. We’ll never forget it.

K2K18 – Champion: Ben Thompson (2nd Cup). Records: Lowest round in K2K history (69, Terry Blunt, Sky Mountain); most birdies in a round (8, Terry Blunt).