The championship match of the 115th Utah Women’s State Amateur golf tournament will have a definite BYU flair this year.
Cougars rising sophomore Lila Galea’i, a Lehi High product, will meet Lone Peak High rising senior Berlin Long — who has committed to play for BYU — in the 18-hole final at 8 a.m. on Thursday at Oakridge Country Club.
Neither golfer has made it to the State Am finals before, but both are or have been highly accomplished junior golfers in the state. In fact, Galea’i and Long squared off in the championship match of the girls 13-14 division of the Utah State Junior Amateur three years ago at Oakridge, with the older Galea’i prevailing.
Berlin Long competes in the Utah Women’s State Amateur on Wednesday, June 30, 2021.
Randy Dodson, Fairways Media
Both survived grueling semifinal matches Wednesday afternoon to reach the finals.
Long defeated four-time champion Kelsey Chugg by making long birdie putts on holes 16 and 17 and a par on No. 18 to win 1 up. Chugg was 2 up through 15 before Long’s big rally.
Galea’i and former Bingham High and Sacramento State golfer Tess Blair, the 2018 champion, staged one of the most memorable matches of the tournament in the semifinals. Galea’i won it with a par on the 19th hole (No. 1 at Oakridge).
Blair won holes 14, 15, and 16 to go 1 up, but Galea’i made a birdie on No. 17 to even the match and then celebrated on the par-5 first hole.
In the quarterfinal matches Wednesday morning, Long defeated former Corner Canyon golfer Emma Winfree 2 up after Winfree won four of the first five holes to go 4 up. Long won hole 17 to get her first lead of the day.
Galea’i cruised past former Bingham High golfer Carissa Graft 6 and 4 in the morning, never trailing after winning the first hole with a birdie.
Blair advanced to the semifinals with a 5 and 4 win over 14-year-old Aadyn Long — Berlin’s sister — and Chugg advanced with a 2 and 1 win over Westminster College golfer Whitney Banz.