Grace Summerhays lost in the round of 16 in the U.S. Girls' Junior golf tournament Thursday afternoon, ending her family's remarkable performance of the past two weeks in United States Golf Association events.
Summerhays qualified for match play as the No. 42 seed and won two matches before falling 6 and 5 to the No. 7 seed, Lei Ye of China, at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wis.
The 15-year-old Summerhays lives most of the year in Scottsdale, Ariz.; her family spends the summers in Davis County, where she was born. Her brother Preston, 17, won the U.S. Junior Amateur last week in Ohio and caddied for her this week.
In the round of 64 on Wednesday, Summerhays took a 5-and-4 win over Sarah Arnold of Illinois. The match was tied through eight holes, then Summerhays won five of the next six holes.
In the round of 32 staged Thursday morning, Summerhays lost No. 16 to reduce her lead to 1 up over No. 10 seed Erika Smith of Florida, but the players tied the next two holes with pars to give Summerhays the victory.
Her opponent was overwhelming in the round of 16, though. Ye won the first two holes, lost No. 3 and then won five of the remaining 10 holes.
Summerhays is entered in the Women’s State Amateur, beginning Monday at the Logan Country Club. In mid-July, she became the second woman to qualify for match play in the State Amateur, before losing in the round of 64 in the tournament that her brother eventually won at Soldier Hollow Golf Course in Midway.
Junior Americas Cup
Utah’s four-player team tied for first place with San Diego in the Junior Americas Cup in Edmonton, Alberta, giving the state its first victory in the event since 1994. Brandon Robison of Centerville shot 67-70-73 to finish second individually. Tyson Shelley of Salt Lake City (72-73-71) tied for seventh, Simon Kwon of Salt Lake City (74-70-73) tied for 11th and Braxton Watts of Farmington (74-76-82) tied for 51st. Three scores in each round counted toward the team total.
