Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Natalie Stone Repeats as Women’s State Am Champion

Natalie Stone completed her quest to repeat as the Women’s Utah State Amateur champion by defeating Sadie Palmer, 3 and 2, in the championship match at Davis Park Wednesday afternoon.

 

Stone, who just completed her collegiate career at Colorado State University, was the qualifying medalist with a four under par 67, and then she won four straight matches to win the title under the new match play format introduced for this first time this year. Last year she won in a 54-hole stroke play format.

Stone is the daughter of Davis Park head professional Brad Stone and winning the title at her home course with her family and friends cheering her on was a highlight of her golfing career.

 

Stone and Palmer each birdied the first hole and Palmer took a momentary lead when Stone made a rare bogey on the second hole, but that was the last hole Palmer would win. She then bogeyed four of the next six holes while steady Stone made par after par after par and had a three-up lead after eight and never opened the door for Palmer to rally.

 

Palmer hails from Stansbury Park and plays college golf at Southern Utah University.

 

In the semifinals Tara Green took Stone to the last hole before losing, 1-up. Stone played steady, conservative golf, making 16 pars, a birdie, and a lone double bogey. Green had a string of bogeys mid-round that put her in a slight hole, but she birdied the par three 14^th hole to cut Stone’s lead to just one hole.

 

At that point Green needed another birdie or Stone to bogey, but neither happened. Both players pared the final four holes.

 

Sadie Palmer never trailed in her semifinal match with Jenteal Jackson. She carded four birdies and only two bogeys and Jackson didn’t help her own cause with four mid-round bogeys and Palmer won by a 4 and 3 margin.

 

Enroute to defending her Women’s Utah State Amateur championship Natalie Stone learned that women’s golf in Utah is on the rise and that the junior golf programs, new high school programs for girls, and many more collegiate options are starting to produce some fine younger players.

 

Back-to-back titles are the recent norm in the Women’s Utah State Am. Daphne Vines won the title back to back in 2007-08 and Rachel Newren won it back-to-back in 2004-05. Nichole Newren-Chandler won it in 2004, and Annie Thurman won back-to-back in 2002-03.