Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Jenna Anderson was looking for a change of scenery and a warm-weather landing spot when she entered the NCAA transfer portal last winter, and the Dousman, Wisconsin, native found that when she went from UW-Green Bay to Utah Tech last year.
The Beehive State was good for her game Wednesday afternoon, too.
The Trailblazers' rising junior shot 7-under-par 65 with seven birdies and no bogeys — the first of her career, she says — to tie for medalist honors with Black Desert athlete and LPGA Tour prospect Ali Mulhall in stroke-play qualifying at the 118th Utah women's state amateur championship at TalonsCove Golf Course.
Anderson trailed Mulhall by three strokes with three holes to play before polishing off her round with three straight birdies, including a 35-footer on the par-4, 393-yard 18th green to shoot up the leaderboard.
"That was kind of a crazy putt," Anderson said moments after finishing her draw from a similar lie as Utah Valley's Pati Uluave, who finished tied for third at 3-under 69. "I'm kinda glad I got to watch Pati go first so I knew how much to put on it.
"I saw it grab the break perfectly; it was kind of a hit-and-hope, and pray that it played the break just how I wanted it to. I was a little surprised that it went in, but I'll take it. Out here, you just have to trust your putting, put yourself in a good spot on the green and trust what you've got going."
Anderson tied atop the stroke-play leaderboard with Mulhall, the former Nevada prep champion and one-time UNLV commit who works out of Black Desert Resort in Hurricane.
The 18-year-old couldn't have started much better playing in Wednesday's opening group, opening the round with her first of two eagles on the par-5, 488-yard first hole to go along with three birdies during the bogey-free round.
"I almost holed out on the first hole from the fairway, before hitting from about a foot from eagle," said Mulhall, who will open match play as the top seed Thursday against Fremont High's Susan Tiffner. "I just hit a bunch of greens, and two-putted a lot.
"The plan was just to stay chill, and not make many mistakes," she added. "Just move on to tomorrow."
Anderson will open match play as the No. 2 seed against Bonneville's Whitni Johnson.
Uluave finished tied for third with Utah Tech's Mia Cesarek at 69, one stroke up on Arizona State rising junior and former women's amateur champion Grace Summerhays and Southern Virginia's Sydney Richards. The Trailblazers advanced four golfers to the 32-player match-play portion that tees off Thursday through Saturday's 18-hole championship match.
That will include five-time champion Kelsey Chugg, the former Weber State standout who currently works as the associate director of Salt Lake City's golf program. Chugg shot 1-under 71 to tie for seventh with Natalie Mclane, the former 2A state champion from Herriman.
Medalist — or co-medalist, even — honors are nice. But qualifying for match play is the biggest feat, Anderson admitted.
"That's exciting. But coming into this, I was just hoping to make it to match play," Anderson said. "I haven't had the greatest summer up until this point, so this is kind of a breakthrough in my game just after this round. I'm proud that I was able to get a good round in, and hope that it carries into the rest of match play.
"Match play is my favorite, and we don't get to play match-play format (in college golf) very much. I can't wait; I'm excited."
118th Utah women's state amateur championship
TalonsCove Golf Club
Top 10
- 65 — Ali Mulhall, Jenna Anderson
- 69 — Mia Cesarek, Pati Uluave
- 70 — Grace Summerhays, Sydney Richards
- 71 — Kelsey Chugg, Natalie Mclane
- 72 — Leighton Shosted
- 73 — Saydie Wagner, Arden Louchheim, Kyra Sponenburgh, Kate Walker
Thursday match play (Round of 32)
- No. 1 Ali Mulhall vs. No,. 32 Susan Tiffner
- No. 16 Jane Olson vs. No. 17 Ashley Lam
- No. 8 Natalie Mclane vs. No. 25 Mercede Parrish
- No. 9 Leighton Shosted vs. No. 24 Kaylee Westfall
- No. 4 Pati Uluave vs. No. 29 Steph Belnap
- No. 13 Kate Walker vs. No. 20 Isabel Wade
- No. 5 Grace Summerhays vs. No. 28 Amanda Henneman
- No. 12 Kyra Spnenburgh vs. No. 21 Kareen Larson
- No. 2 Jenna Anderson vs. No. 31 Whitni Johnson
- No. 15 Samantha Phelan vs. No. 18 Alyssa Meadows
- No. 7 Kelsey Chugg vs. No. 26 Sage Parry
- No. 10 Arden Louchheim vs. No. 23 Madalyn Hadley
- No. 3 Mia Cesarek vs. No. 30 Anette Gaiotti
- No. 14 Faith Vui vs. No. 19 Lily Shin
- No. 6 Sydney Richards vs. No. 27 Tacee Hess
- No. 11 Saydie Wagner vs. No. 22 Morgan Thomas
Full results and match-play bracket available at uga.org
