Kerstin Fotu never trailed in the final match of the Women's State Amateur, but 15-year-old Grace Summerhays made her agonize to the end Thursday at Logan Country Club.
After having to play no more than 12 holes in either of her two matches Wednesday, the BYU freshman went to No. 18 with a 1-up lead in both the semifinals and finals. Fotu matched Summerhays’ par on the hole to claim her first State Am title.
“It feels good to be done,” Fotu said.
“You can't really ask for a better match,” Summerhays said.
Fotu is a Lone Peak High School graduate. She has attended Utah Valley University while awaiting admission to BYU, where she'll join the golf program this month. Summerhays' family spends the school year in Arizona and the summers in Davis County.
Summerhays was hoping to become the youngest winner of the tournament, by a big margin.
Tess Blair, a recent Bingham High School graduate who didn't defend her title this week, was 17 when she won the State Am last August. Terry Norman Hansen also was 17, slightly younger than Blair, when she claimed her first title in 1980.
Summerhays' brother Preston was about a month shy of his 16th birthday last summer when he won the first of his consecutive State Amateur titles. After winning that event again in early July, Preston Summerhays followed with a victory in the U.S. Junior Amateur in Ohio.
Grace Summerhays, who qualified for match play in the State Amateur in Midway, then reached the round of 16 in the U.S. Girls’ Junior by winning two matches in Wisconsin.
Against Fotu, Summerhays won the par-4 No. 16 with a birdie to put pressure on the eventual winner, but Fotu responded with a birdie-par finish that enabled her to stay in front.
“My short game really saved me,” Fotu said. “For some reason, I wasn't super nervous.”
In the morning semifinals, Fotu took a 2-up win over Southern Utah University golfer Kyla Smith of St. George and Summerhays was a 5-and-3 winner over Laura Gerner, a University of Idaho golfer from Kaysville.
(Photo courtesy of Fairways Media/Randy Dodson) BYU freshman Kerstin Fotu holds the trophy after winning the 113th Women's State Amateur at Logan Country Club.
Fotu and Summerhays were paired together for the two rounds of stroke-play qualifying, with Fotu (71-70) emerging as the medalist. Summerhays opened with an 80 and was in mild danger of missing the cut to 16 golfers for match play, but she rallied with a 71 to tie for fifth place.
Summerhays then dominated each of her first three matches, never having to play beyond No. 15. “As the week has gone on, I've just improved the things I've needed to improve,” she said.
In Fotu's semifinal match with Smith, neither player had more than 1-up lead until No. 18, where Fotu completed her victory with a birdie. Smith had won the par-5 No. 14 with a conceded birdie to pull into a tie, but she lost the par-5 No. 17 after driving into trouble.
Summerhays and Gerner tied each of the first seven holes in the other match, before Summerhays won five of the remaining eight holes with three pars and two birdies.
