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BYU’s Adeline Wach earns her first UGA title

BYU’s Adeline Wach walked off the 18^th green of Mountain Dell’s Lake Course believing she was headed to a playoff, only to learn moments later that she had won the Utah Women’s Stroke Play Championship.

In the last two weeks BYU’s Adeline Wach has won the Utah Women’s Open and the Utah Women’s Stroke Play Championship.

That sequence of events was among multiple twists and turns in the last hour of the tournament Wednesday, including a double bogey by the defending champion, a lightning delay that affected only the final group and an incident involving bear spray in the Sandwedge Cafe.

Some explanations are required. Skipping to the end, Wach (70-74) won by one shot over Kelsey Chugg(76-69), reversing the outcome of the 2022 Women’s State Amateur final match.

First, there’s the story of how the former Adeline Anderson recovered from a triple bogey on No. 1 in the final round, applying what she and BYU Women’s Golf Coach Carrie Roberts have worked on this summer in “sticking to the process.”

That’s what Wach talked about last week, when that approach helped her pull away to a six-stroke victory in the two-day Siegfried & Jensen Utah Women’s Open in Provo. It worked again Wednesday, when she quickly lost the one-stroke lead over three players that she took into the final round, and again when she wobbled around the turn.

A pulled drive and two penalty strokes added up to that “8” on No. 1, but she was not deterred. Recounting the speech she gave herself, Wach said, “Hey, we’re sticking to the process, no matter what. Like, you’re not done, just keep going.”

Roberts’ sport psychology techniques were validated again on the back nine, by Wach’s making two birdies and one bogey. Playing in the next-to-last group, Chugg produced the low round of the tournament, making four birdies before she double-bogeyed the par-3 No. 17. Wach then bogeyed No. 17 and, according to the unofficial live-scoring updates provided by a player in each group, was tied with Chugg, who had just finished her round.

Kelsey Chugg

Wach’s husband, Cameron, shared that news with her by phone during the weather delay, which came after the last threesome hit their approach shots on No. 18.

That’s also about the time a patron’s canister of bear spray accidentally was discharged in the cafe, affecting the eyes of Weber State golfer Jade Gruher and her parents. Chugg, the ranking Salt Lake City Golf staff member on site, responsibly assisted emergency medical and law enforcement personnel.

The question of whether Chugg would have been in any frame of mind to participate in a playoff became moot after Wach completed a par on No. 18 and her scores were accurately recorded, giving her a 2-over-par total for two rounds.

In any case, the final round was mostly a success for Chugg, who this summer became a six-time winner of the Women’s State Amateur. She bounced back from the opening-round 76 that included five bogeys on the back nine, while overcoming a disappointing showing in the U.S. Women’s Amateur last week in Oklahoma.

Chugg will prepare for next month’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur in Massachusetts, having reached the final match of that event in three of her six appearances.

Utah Women’s Stroke Play low senior, Kareen Larson.

Wach will play in the Utah Open, beginning Friday at Riverside Country Club in Provo (she’s paired with Roberts’ brothers, Joe and Bruce Summerhays Jr.), and then gear up for her senior year of college golf. “Of course, when you win, it’s a boost of confidence,” she said.

That’s true no matter how, or when, it happens.

Click here for the Utah Women’s Stroke Play Championship final leaderboard.

Utah Women’s Stroke Play Championship recap written by Fairways Media senior writer, Kurt Kragthorpe. All photos provided by Fairways Mediua/Garrit Johnson.