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118th Women’s State Amateur: Kelsey Chugg becomes a six-time champion

Long before she would become a six-time winner of the Utah Women’s State Amateur Championship, then-Weber State golfer Kelsey Chugg came to TalonsCove Golf Club to play in her first Utah Golf Association event, the 2011 Mary Lou Baker Open.

She finished second to Lea Garner and met the legendary Baker, gaining some appreciation of Utah golf history.

Skip ahead to Saturday in Saratoga Springs, and Chugg has made herself an even bigger part of that tradition. By winning No. 18 for a 1-up victory over Ali Mulhall in the 118th Women’s State Am, the 33-year-old Chugg joined the group tied for No. 2 all-time with six wins: Florence Halloran, Helen Hofmann Bertagnole, Baker and Marcia Thayne. And now Bev Nelson’s record eight titles is in reasonably clear view.

“It’s amazing to be up there with names like that,” Chugg said. “They were so dominant in their era.”

The fact that Thayne turned pro 50 years ago gives some context to what Chugg has done in this era, when junior girls golfers and women’s college players in Utah have become so good. Chugg remembers how only 20 players entered that long-ago Mary Lou Baker Open. “To see where we’ve come from there is amazing,” she said.

The combination of state and national achievements gives Kelsey Chugg her own distinction in Utah golf history.

The same can be said of Chugg herself. In addition to her Women’s State Am performance, with a 38-7 match-play record and six titles in 12 years (she didn’t play in 2019), she has competed in three final matches of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, with one victory. The combination of state and national achievements gives Chugg her own distinction. So do opponents such as Sirene Blair and three BYU golfers whom Chugg has defeated in Women’s State Am finals.

And who knows what Mulhall may go on to do, as she enters LPGA Tour qualifying in mid-August. If she advances through the first two stages, she’ll turn professional. In the meantime, she is entered in the Siegfried & Jensen Utah Women’s Open in Provo and the Utah Women’s Stroke Play at Mountain Dell GC in Salt Lake City.

Ali Mulhall earned runner-up status in her first playing of the historic Utah Women’s State Amateur championship.

The 19-year-old Mulhall spent her high school years in southern Nevada, yet she counts as one of those rising Utah stars with her Morgan roots and Utah Junior Golf Association history. She’s also affiliated with Black Desert Resort in southern Utah, where the golf academy operated by her caddie/father, PGA Professional Chris Mulhall, is now headquartered.

Mulhall finally pulled into a tie with a birdie on No. 16, but she lost No. 18 when her approach shot bounced into a bunker on the right side of the green and her 15-foot par putt somehow stayed out of the hole.

Ali Mulhall successfully played her shot out of the greenside bunker on hole 18 at TalonsCove GC but failed to get up and down to continue the championship match.

She swung her putter in a mixture of disgust and disbelief, then quickly smiled and hugged Chugg. “It stinks, but Kelsey’s an amazing player and she deserved (to win),” Mulhall said. “We were pretty much dead even, pretty much the whole day. … I hit the shot I wanted (on No. 18) and just got a bad bounce.”

That was one of only five holes that were won or lost on an overcast Saturday morning. Chugg won No. 3 with a birdie and never trailed, although Mulhall stayed only 1 down from Nos. 7-15.

Chugg remembered having lost a 3-up lead through 12 holes in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur last September. “It creeps in your mind,” she said, “so it was great to be able to play really steady and hold on,” she said. “I think experience helps. You’ve got to block out the demons sometimes, but I definitely felt comfortable down the stretch.”

Utah Golf Association president Mark Jensen presented the champion’s trophy to Kelsey Chugg, celebrating her sixth win in the 118-year history of the Women’s State Am.

Chugg, the associate director of Salt Lake City Golf, is now 56-12 in match play, between the Women’s State Am and the Mid-Am. She hopes to make match play in the U.S. Women’s Amateur, Aug. 5-10 at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She already was exempt for that event as the Mid-Am runner-up; Mulhall needed to win Saturday to earn the first exemption awarded to the Women’s State Am champion.

The 2025 Women’s State Am is booked for Wasatch Mountain Golf Course in Midway, where Chugg won her second title in 2013. “I’m not ancient yet,” she said, looking ahead to some opportunities to make more history.

General Manager Kareen Larson, who also made it to match play this week, congratulates Kelsey Chugg in the event’s first playing at TalonsCove GC in Saratoga Springs, UT.

Meanwhile, victory No. 6 will be well remembered at a first-time Women’s State Am venue. TalonsCove General Manager Kareen Larson, who won a first-round match, “put on a clinic this week for how to host an event,” said Colin Clawson, the UGA’s Director, Championships & Golf Operations.

And Chugg again showed how to win it.

Utah Women’s State Amateur championship match feature written by Fairways Media senior writer Kurt Kragthorpe. Photos by Fairways Media/Randy Dodson.