Houston • Once she qualified for match play, Salt Lake City’s Kelsey Chugg had an easier time winning a United States Golf Association championship than she did in claiming her four Women’s State Amateur victories.
Chugg might dispute that depiction of a stress-free road to the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur title, considering how she wobbled by losing two holes after going 4 up through 13 holes Thursday. But she never played Champions Golf Club’s 18th hole in any of her six matches, including a 3-and-1 victory over Mary Jane Hiestand of Florida in the tournament for golfers 25 and older.
Chugg, 26, is a former Weber State golfer who works for the Utah Golf Association. She’s the third Utahn to win a USGA national title in this century, following Annie Thurman in the 2002 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links and Clay Ogden in the 2005 U.S. Amateur Public Links. Chugg’s victory gives her exemptions into the 2018 U.S. Women’s Open in Alabama and the U.S. Women’s Amateur in Tennessee.
“It’s incredible,” Chugg said. “This is a dream. I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s so cool. I am so pumped to go to the U.S. Open. That’s been a lifelong goal.”
Hiestand won Thursday’s first hole with a par, but Chugg claimed five of the next 12 holes to go 4 up. Hiestand, 58, who was bidding to become the oldest winner of the event, won Nos. 14 and 16 with pars, then Chugg took No. 17 with a par to end the match.
Chugg had opened the stroke-play portion of the tournament with 85, but rallied with an even-par 72 to advance into match play as the No. 50 seed. After the first round, “I remember going to the car and … I actually cried a little bit in the car. I was pretty upset. I was playing pretty good coming into this and I was mad at myself. I called my coach [Lynsey Myers] and she said, ‘Just go practice. Get your head back in the game. Go practice and get your tempo good.’ So I did. I went to to the range.”
Chugg then beat five top-20 seeds before meeting Hiestand (No. 56). Her previous best showing in a USGA event came in 2011, when she reached the round of 32 in the Public Links. Chugg has won State Am titles in 2012, ’13, ‘15 and ’17.
Utah’s champions<br>Utah high school graduates and former college golfers who have won United States Golf Association titles:<br>1926 U.S. Amateur • George Von Elm, West High School.<br>1973 U.S. Open • Johnny Miller, BYU.<br>1977 U.S. Amateur • John Fought, BYU.<br>1983 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links • Kelli Antolock, BYU.<br>1995 U.S. Junior Amateur • Scott Hailes, Bountiful High School.<br>2002 Women’s Amateur Public Links • Annie Thurman, Lone Peak High School.<br>2005 U.S. Amateur Public Links • Clay Ogden, Davis High School/BYU.<br>2017 U.S. Women’s Mid-• Kelsey Chugg, Weber State.
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