In the past six years, one college golfer after another has won the Larry H. Miller Utah Women’s Open. The trend could end Tuesday, amid wedding plans that have helped bring that possibility into play.
Emilee Hoffman will take a three-stroke lead into the final round at The Country Club. The former Epson Tour pro carded five birdies and four bogeys for a 71 in the opening round. She was followed by Herriman High School senior Natalie Mclane and rookie pro Leighton Shosted at 74. The pros are playing for a $4,000 first prize.
Hoffman, 27, is a California native who played for the University of Texas and then lived in Arizona during her Epson Tour tenure. So what’s she doing in Salt Lake City? Hoffman is engaged to East High School graduate Garek Bielaczyc. They met in Austin, Texas (the site of their wedding in October), where he was a distance runner for the Longhorns.
Hoffman birdied the par-3 No. 2 and the par-5 No. 3, then mixed in bogeys and birdies the rest of the way.
After eight years at public venues in Utah County, the Utah Women’s Open moved to The Country Club for the ninth edition. The first-round scores were high. Only 21 players in the starting field of 89 shot in the 70s, with conditions becoming more difficult when the wind kicked up in the afternoon.
Each of the top three players birdied the par-5 No. 17, then bogeyed the par-4 No. 18. Mclane, who won the Utah Section PGA’s Junior Major Championship last week, overcame a double bogey on the par-5 No. 13 to post her 74.
Shosted, whose college career took her to Utah Valley, Grand Canyon and Tennessee, turned pro this summer. The Arizona native also absorbed a double bogey, on the par-4 No. 7.
Three golfers will start the final round five shots behind Hoffman: Raina Riml, a recent Wasatch High School graduate; rookie pro Ali Mulhall, who has played the Women’s All Pro Tour and made her LPGA Tour debut in the Black Desert Championship in May; and Timpview High School alum Sunbin Seo, who was in and out of BYU’s tournament lineup the past three seasons.
Larry H. Miller Utah Women’s Open Round One leaderboard.
Written by Fairways Media seinor writer Kurt Kragthorpe. Photography by Fairways Media/Garrit Johnson and Randy Dodson.