Eight golfers remain in the chase for the 115th Utah Women’s State Amateur championship after Tuesday’s two rounds of match play featured a few upsets and and a close call for a past champion at Oakridge Country Club in Farmington.
Most notably, medalist Adeline Anderson, an incoming BYU freshman, was eliminated in Tuesday’s first match in the round of 32, falling 2 and 1 to Westminster golfer Whitney Banz, the No. 32 seed who survived a playoff on Monday to make match play.
It was an outstanding day for Banz, a three-time UHSAA first team all-stater at West High in Salt Lake City. She drubbed SUU golfer Tori Thomas of St. George 5 and 4 in the round of 16 to make it into Wednesday’s quarterfinals, where she will square off against four-time champion Kelsey Chugg.
For a while Tuesday, it appeared that Idaho State golfer Tya Seth was going to eliminate 2018 champion Tess Blair. Seth was 1 up through 16 holes, but made a double bogey on 17 to lose that hole and Blair won the match with a birdie on the 19th hole.
Chugg marched into the final eight with a 2 and 1 win over Kassidy Wallin and a 3 and 2 win over Macy Robertson. The Chugg-Banz match Wednesday will begin at 7 a.m., with the other three quarterfinal matches to follow.
The semifinals are Wednesday afternoon and the championship match is Thursday.
The other quarterfinalists are teenage sisters Berlin and Aadyn Long, BYU golfer Apelila Galeai, former Corner Canyon High golfer Emma Winfree and former Bingham High star Carissa Graft, who played for Indiana Tech.
Winfree meets Berlin Long at 7:09 a.m., Galeai faces off with Graft at 7:18 a.m. and Blair meets Aadyn Long, 14, at 7:27 a.m.
Galeai had an easy time with BYU teammate Kerstin Fotu, the 2019 champion, in a round of 32 match, prevailing 4 and 2 before eliminating Westminster’s Jobi Einerson 5 and 4 in the afternoon.
Winfree, who plays for Regis University in Denver, ousted 68-year-old Annette Gaiotti 4 and 2 in the round of 16. Gaiotti made it to the round of 16 by outlasting Claire Whisenant in 19 holes.
Berlin Long downed Jennifer Ensign 3 and 2, while her sister, Aadyn, held off former BYU golfer Anna Kennedy 3 and 2.
Graft, a former high school state champion, needed 20 holes to oust Dixie State golfer Madison Moss, a Lone Peak product. Moss overcame a four-hole deficit by winning holes 10, 11, 12 and 15 to get back into the match.
Whatever happens Wednesday and Thursday, the tournament will produce a new champion because 2020 champion Grace Summerhays is playing in a different tournament this week.