SANDY — The Final Four is all set at the Women’s State Amateur with three familiar names and a newcomer ready to battle in Thursday morning’s semifinals.
Advancing through the first two rounds of match play Wednesday at Hidden Valley Country Club were defending champion Sirene Blair, two-time champion Kelsey Chugg, two-time medalist Lea Garner and Idaho’s Brooklyn Hocker.
Hocker, who will be a junior at BYU, is the rookie. She qualified as the No. 12 seed, but knocked off Cougar teammate Alex White 2 and 1 in the first round and came back to defeat last year’s runner-up Alli Cluff 4 and 3 in the afternoon.
The 20-year-old Hocker came to BYU from Idaho Falls two years ago as Brooklyn Anderson, but has since married Korey Hocker. She credited her patience and solid putting for her victories Wednesday.
“The key for me was just staying in the moment, taking it one shot at a time and not getting ahead of myself,’’ she said.
In her morning round, she got going with a chip-in for birdie from 45 feet, then sank a 40-foot putt for birdie on the third hole of her afternoon match and never trailed.
Next up for her will be Blair, a junior-to-be at San Diego State, who had little trouble beating Nicole Thomas 6 and 5 in the morning match before coming back to defeat BYU golfer Kendra Dalton 4 and 2 in the afternoon.
“Obviously she’s a great player, so it should be fun,’’ said Hocker.
On the other side of the bracket, Chugg crushed Utah Valley freshman-to-be Katie Perkins of St. George 6 and 5 in the morning and edged 16-year-old Naomi Soifua 2 and 1 in a rematch of the 2012 State Am final.
“It was tough, she was rolling in 10-footers all afternoon,’’ said Chugg, a former Weber State golfer who works as the membership director for the Utah Golf Association. “She was good back then (in 2012), but she’s gotten so much better.’’
Chugg, 24, will face Garner, who easily won medalist honors for the second straight year on Tuesday by four strokes after winning by nine shots a year earlier.
The 21-year-old Garner, who will be a senior at BYU, defeated recent Ogden High graduate Xena Motes 4 and 2 in the first round and hung on to beat fellow BYU golfer Carly Oldroyd 1 up in the quarterfinals.
“Neither match was easy,’’ said Garner. “I hit it really well today and my putting was really good too.’’
This marks the fourth straight year Garner has made it as far as the semifinals, and she’d like to change that this time around.
“It’s a goal to make it at least past the semifinals this time,’’ she said. “But I’m feeling pretty confident if I keep doing what I’ve been doing, I’ll have a good chance.’’
The Blair-Hocker match begins at 8 a.m. with Garner and Chugg teeing off at 8:15 a.m. Then the two winners will meet in the finals at 12:30 p.m.
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