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Arizona’s Robin Krapfl now a Utah Champion

Not much about the way she started the 32nd Utah Senior Women’s State Amateur Championship suggested that Robin Krapfl would end up holding the trophy.

Same story for her drive to Hill Air Force Base for Saturday morning’s final match vs. Roberta Scott, on the way to a 4-and-3 victory.

The story of the Arizona resident’s sharp play in winning four of the first six holes at Hubbard Memorial Golf Course gets better. A flat tire in Layton left her “rushed, frazzled” and fearful of missing her tee time. Utah Golf Association officials gave her a 10-minute allowance. Krapfl (pronounced KRAW-full”) made it to the course, quickly launched a flurry of practice shots, headed to the tee and birdied the par-5 No. 1.

So credit the Discount Tire guys who assisted her, Kareen Larson for recruiting her and a new golf swing that came together for her after a rough opening round of stroke play for contributing to Krapfl’s title. And give Scott her due, after playing brilliantly for three days at age 75, before losing in the final match for a second straight September.

“I’m happy to be here,” said Scott, who has at least reached the semifinals four years in a row. “Obviously, a bit disappointed in my swing, but that’s golf. I definitely got outplayed. … She played very well.”

Formerly the longtime University of Nebraska women’s golf coach, Krapfl relocated to the Phoenix area and has become acquainted with Utahns such as Larson and Nuny Khamone via the Arizona-Utah Shootout and other events. Larson, always a Utah golf advocate, encouraged her to come and play in the Senior Women’s State Am, once she failed to qualify for the U.S. Senior Women’s Am.

Even with the UGA’s expansion to eight golfers for match play (earning status in the World Amateur Golf Rankings) this year, Krapfl was outside the cut line after the first round with an 88. After improving with an 80, she took the No. 6 seed, meaning she would have missed match play under the old format.

But then she took off, playing a total of 45 holes against the top three seeds in reverse order: Gaiotti, Julie McMullin and Scott, who had beaten Mona Stevens and Steph Belnap (after Belnap’s upset of Khamken, the defending champion).

“It just took a long time to get a feel for the golf course,” Krapfl said, “and I’m going through some swing changes. That’s the biggest issue. … Finally, everything clicked.”

Krapfl’s ball-striking gave her a big edge in the final match. After going 4 up through six, she lost only two holes the rest of the way, even as Scott started playing much better toward the end.

Scott (76-77) had nearly shot her age in the stroke-play portion of the tournament, finishing one shot ahead of McMullin (80-74). Flight awards were based on stroke play. In addition to Scott’s gross victory in Flight 1, McMullin (77-71) took net honors.

In Flight 2, Karen Seaman (83-86) was the gross winner and Tammy Gustaveson (73-74) earned the net title.

In Flight 3, Cristine Carson (97-87) and Judi Tuturow (77-72) took the top spots.

In Flight 4, Heidi Moser (107-101) and Vardell Laursen (71-85) were the gross and net winners, respectively.

Click here for complete scoring. 

32nd Utah Senior Women’s State Amateur championship match recap written by Fairways Media senior writer Kurt Kragthorpe. Photos by Fairways Media/Randy Dodson.