In the first six years of the Siegfried & Jensen Utah Women’s Open, no playoff was needed to decide the champion and no out-of-state pro claimed the trophy.
One or both trends could end Tuesday as the final round is staged at Timpanogos Golf Club in Provo, where 12 players are within three shots of the lead.
Beau Bremer, a pro from Scottsdale, Arizona, took the first-round lead Monday with a 3-under-par 69, one stroke better than four players. Tuesday’s final threesome will include Bremer, who played golf and soccer at Washington State; current University of Washington golfer Adithi Anand; and Salt Lake City’s Whitney Banz, who played golf and basketball at Westminster College.
The group at 70 also includes junior golf star Ali Mulhall and BYU’s Lila Galea’i. Defending champion Tess Blair, who won her second Women’s State Amateur title last week, and Weber State’s Samira Salinas are next at 71.
Among the players at 72 are BYU graduate Allysha Mae Mateo, who recently turned pro, and Cougar assistant coach Lea Garner, who won the first two Utah Women’s Open titles in 2017 and ‘18 at the since-remodeled and renamed Timpanogos GC. The event was played at Thanksgiving Point Golf Club the past four years, with an active college golfer winning each time.
Here’s how the top five golfers ended up in their positions:
Bremer birdied the par-4 Nos. 16 and 17 to move into the lead.
Banz eagled the par-5 No. 10 on her way to a back-nine 32.
Mulhall, who also eagled No. 10, reached 5 under before carding a triple bogey on the par-4 No. 14.
Galea’i was 4 under before making a double bogey on No. 15, the par-3 with an island green.
Anand was the steadiest player on the board, making three birdies and one bogey.
Click here for Utah Women’s Open Leaderboard.
Written by Fairways Media senior writer Kurt Kragthorpe. Photos by Fairways Media/Randy Dodson.