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SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saturday's championship match at the 118th Utah women's state amateur will pit a first-time debutante against the winningest champion in the event's modern era.
But just to get to the weekend, Ali Mulhall had to knock off another former champ.
The 18-year-old golf prodigy who plays out of Black Desert Resort near Hurricane held off 2020 champion Grace Summerhays in a 19-hole thriller Friday afternoon at TalonsCove Golf Club.
"That was amazing. Grace is such an amazing player," Mulhall said. "We push each other all day long, and she never let off the gas pedal. I was super excited to play with her again."
Mulhall will face five-time Utah women's amateur champion Kelsey Chugg in Saturday's final, which will tee off at 8 a.m. MDT at TalonsCove.
The former Weber State standout who works as director of golf for Salt Lake City advanced with a 4 and 3 win over Faith Vui, the Saratoga Springs teenager who made history last November as the first Samoan-born golfer to win the New Zealand women's amateur championship.
Saturday's final is no less intriguing.
"I'm hoping we both play great golf and it's exciting," said Chugg, whose fifth women's amateur title in 2022 was the most by an individual since Beverly Nelson won her eighth in 1979. "It could be a pretty close match, I think. She's a great player; I played with her at the Mary Lou Baker Open a few weeks ago, and I'm super impressed by her game."
Mulhall led just one time before the playoff-hole decider, a brief 1-up flirtation through seven that Summerhays immediately pulled back with a par on the par-3 eighth hole.
After dispatching reigning 4A state medalist Kate Walker, 7 and 6 in a quarterfinal, Summerhays took a 2-up lead over Mulhall through 12 holes.
The rising junior at Arizona State led early before Mulhall won the fourth and seventh holes to go 1 up. But Summerhays birdied the par-4 eighth hole to square the match after nine holes, and went 2-up with a birdie on the par-4 11th hole.
Still, Mulhall came back.
The former Nevada prep champion who could accept a scholarship offer to UNLV if she doesn't turn pro after qualifying school in the fall rallied to square the match with back-to-back wins at Nos. 13 and 14.
Like a match-up of highly trained boxers — or two future pro golfers reminiscent of former Utah amateur champions Danny Summerhays and Tony Finau — the duo battled back and forth until Mulhall's eight-foot putt to win the match on the first playoff hole.
Mulhall expected it — she played her stroke-play qualifying round with Summerhays, when the Black Desert athlete shot 7-under 65 for co-medalist honors and Summerhays shot 70 to tie for fifth.
"After playing with her the first day, I knew that if we got matched together we were going to fight tooth and nail," Mulhall said of Summerhays. "I was super impressed with her short game; she gets up-and-down from everywhere."
Chugg's win over Vui was slightly less dramatic but no less intriguing as the Salt Lake City resident admitted her putter got away from her at times.
But Chugg went 4-up through 10 and mitigated concerns with her iron play, including a wedge shot to set up birdie on the par-5 15th hole that clinched the match and improve to 55-12 in match play via the Utah women's amateur and U.S. women's mid-amateur championships, according to Utah golf historian Kurt Kragthorpe.
"It was helpful to put myself in good positions on the green and keep giving myself chances," Chugg said. "I'm hoping the putter will come back around tomorrow; I might sleep with it tonight.
"I think it's so cool how deep the field is now," she added. "Faith is 18, incredible and very talented. I played a 14-year-old in my first match, and she bombed it by me. It's just really cool to see that. It's exciting after my very first UGA tournament here at TalonsCove, and we only had 2 or so players who came out. To see where we've come since there is amazing."
118th Utah women's state amateur
TalonsCove Golf Club
Friday's quarterfinals
- Ali Mulhall d. Leighton Shosted, 4 and 3
- Grace Summerhays d. Kate Walker, 7 and 6
- Kelsey Chugg d. Jenna Anderson, 2 and 1
- Faith Vui d. Sydney Richards, 3 and 2
Friday's semifinals
- Ali Mulhall d. Grace Summerhays 19 holes
- Kelsey Chugg d. Faith Vui, 4 and 3
