Fruit Heights • A three-time former champion who played college golf at Weber State kept the 111th Utah Women’s State Amateur golf tournament from turning into the BYU Invitational on Thursday afternoon at Davis Park Golf Club.
With three BYU golfers having already advanced to the semifinals, Utah Golf Association employee Kelsey Chugg knocked off defending champion Kendra Dalton in 19 holes in the final quarterfinal match. Dalton, originally from North Carolina, will be a senior at BYU this fall.
111th Utah Women’s State Amateur<br>At Par-71 Davis Park Golf Club, Fruit Heights<br>Thursday’s Round of 16 Matches<br>Annie Yang def. Jobi Einerson, 6 and 5<br>Xena Motes def. Isabella Lesa, 21 holes<br>Carly Dehlin def. Sue Nyhus, 5 and 4<br>Anna Kennedy def. Tara Green, 4 and 2<br>Kendra Dalton def. Cristiana Ciasca, 8 and 6<br>Kelsey Chugg def. Kiselya Piewe, 21 holes<br>Naomi Soifua def. Laura Gerner, 2up<br>Sadie Palmer def. Haylee Chugg, 19 holes<br>Thursday’s Quarterfinal Matches<br>Yang def. Motes, 1 up<br>Kennedy def. Dehlin, 1 up<br>K. Chugg def. Dalton, 19 holes<br>Soifua def. Palmer, 5 and 3<br>Friday’s Semifinal Matches<br>Yang vs. Kennedy, 7:30 a.m.<br>Soifua vs. K. Chugg, 7:40 a.m.<br>Friday’s Championship Match<br>Semifinal winners, approximately at noon.
Chugg, who won in 2012, 2013 and 2015, will meet Provo’s Naomi Soifua in a 7:40 a.m. semifinal Friday. Soifua, 18, will be a freshman at BYU.
The other semifinal will pit two current Cougars, sophomore-to-be Anna Kennedy of Parker, Colo., and Annie Yang of Vancouver, B.C. Yang redshirted this past season after suffering an ankle injury in the fall and will be a senior in September.
Soifua advanced to the semis with a 5 and 3 win over Southern Utah University assistant golf coach Sadie Palmer. Yang defeated Weber State’s Xena Motes 1 up and Kennedy defeated Utah Valley University golfer Carly Dehlin 1 up.
Friday afternoon’s 18-hole championship match will begin approximately one half-hour after the morning’s semifinal matches conclude.
— The Salt Lake Tribune