Rising star Ali Mulhall reaches women’s amateur final against 5-time champion Kelsey Chugg

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saturday’s championship match at the 118th Utah Women’s Amateur Tournament will pit a debutante against the most successful champion in the event’s modern era.

But to make it to the weekend, Ali Mulhall had to beat another former champion.

The 18-year-old golf prodigy, who plays out of Black Desert Resort in Hurricane, defeated 2020 champion Grace Summerhays in a thrilling 19-hole match at TalonsCove Golf Club on Friday afternoon.

“That was awesome. Grace is such a great 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, beginning at 8 a.m. MDT at TalonsCove.

The former Weber State star, who now serves as Salt Lake City’s director of golf, won 4-3 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 hope 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 exciting match, I think. She’s a great player; I played with her a couple of weeks ago at the Mary Lou Baker Open and I’m super impressed with her game.”

Mulhall led only once before the deciding hole of the play-offs, a brief flirtation with 1-up through seven holes, which Summerhays immediately made up for with a par on the par-3 eighth hole.

After beating reigning 4A state medalist Kate Walker 7-6 in the quarterfinals, Summerhays took a 2-up lead over Mulhall after 12 holes.

The rising junior at Arizona State led early before Mulhall won the fourth and seventh holes to move 1 up. But Summerhays birdied the par-4 eighth hole to even the match after nine holes, then moved 2 up with a birdie on the par-4 11th hole.

Yet Mulhall returned.

The former Nevada prep champion, who could accept a scholarship from UNLV if she doesn’t turn pro after qualifying school in the fall, evened the score with back-to-back wins at Nos. 13 and 14.

It was like a match between two highly trained boxers, or two future professional golfers reminiscent of former Utah amateur champions Danny Summerhays and Tony Finau. The pair battled back and forth until Mulhall made the eight-foot putt that won the match on the first playoff hole.

Mulhall expected it when she played her stroke play qualifying round with Summerhays, when the Black Desert athlete posted a 7-under 65 for a medal tie, while Summerhays posted a 70 for a tie for fifth.

“After playing with her the first day, I knew if we were paired together we would push ourselves to the limit,” Mulhall said of Summerhays. “I was super impressed with her short game; she jumps up and down everywhere.”

Chugg’s victory over Vui was a little less dramatic, but no less intriguing. The Salt Lake City native admitted to losing her putter at times.

But Chugg was 4-up through 10 holes and eased concerns about her iron play, including a wedge shot for birdie on the par-5 15th hole that decided the match and raised her lead 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 hope the putter comes back 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 crushed 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 show up. To see where we’ve come since then is amazing.”

118th Utah Women’s State Amateur

TalonsCove Golf Club

Friday’s Quarter Finals

• 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 led by Sydney Richards, 3 and 2

Semi-finals Friday

• Ali Mulhall o. Grace Summerhays 19 holes
• Kelsey Chugg o. Faith Vui, 4 and 3