Grace Summerhays was motivated by an early exit at last year’s Women’s State Amateur. Tess Blair was driven by three straight State Am semifinal appearances without making it to the finals.
Now the two former champions will meet Friday morning in the finals of Women’s State Amateur at Jeremy Ranch Golf Club after each added two more victories Thursday in the match play tournament.
The 19-year-old Summerhays, who plays for Arizona State, will be trying to add to her 2020 title when she became the youngest-ever State Amateur champion at Soldier Hollow GC. Thursday she beat Samira Salinas 3 and 2 in the quarterfinals and edged Jane Olson 4 and 2 in the semifinals.
Blair won at Bonneville GC in 2018 and advanced to the semifinals the past three years without making the finals. Blair defeated 2021 runnerup Berlin Long 3 and 2 in Thursday morning’s quarterfinals and came back to beat Utah Tech golfer Grace Williams 4 and 2 in the afternoon.
Despite being two of the state’s top golfers in recent years, Summerhays and Blair will be playing each other in a match for the first time when they tee off at 8 a.m. in an 18-hole final Friday.
“It’s pretty special,” said the 22-year-old Blair, who played at Sacramento State the last four years and will play one extra year at Iowa State next year. “I’m excited, I’m just going to have fun tomorrow. I haven’t been there in five years.”
She was tied with Williams, a native of Australia, after 11 holes, but won four of the next five as Williams couldn’t get off the bogey train.
Summerhays had won her first two matches 6 and 5, but had to go to the 16th hole in both of her Thursday matches.
The 19-year-old Olson, who will be a sophomore at Utah Tech, had knocked off five-time champion Kelsey Chugg in the morning quarterfinals, coming back from an early deficit, winning five of the final seven holes.
She lamented her slow start against Summerhays, losing the first three holes, before making up ground on holes 4 through 14. But Summerhays hit her 8-iron from 147 yards out on 15 to within six feet for a birdie and then closed out the match at 16 with a four-foot birdie.
Last year Summerhays was upset in the round of 16 and she used that loss as motivation this year.
“It for sure bothered me,” she said. “Golfers are competitive and you can learn something from any loss. It definitely helped me this year.’’
Summerhays, who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, but comes to Utah in the summer, was a last-minute addition to the tournament. She was waiting to see if she got into the upcoming U.S. Am, but said, “Once I knew I wasn’t in it, this was the best place to be. I love playing this event every year. It’s like a little reunion with all of my friends. I just love it.”