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Mary Lou Baker Open Finale Set with Collegians Tied for the Lead
This is golf, for you: After making five birdies in a row in the opening round of the Mary Lou Baker Open, Ashley Lam played those same holes in 1 over par Tuesday at TalonsCove Golf Club.
Westminster’s Ashley Lam remains T1 after 36-holes of play at TalonsCove GC.
Lam, though, did enough good things to maintain a share of the lead. The Westminster University golfer (67-72) is tied with Utah Tech’s Samantha Phelan (69-70) at 5 under par, entering Wednesday’s final round in Saratoga Springs.
Five players are within three strokes of them. Ali Mulhall (72-68), who turned pro this year after being the 2024 Women’s State Amateur runner-up at TalonsCove, and Siriporn “Orchid” Luangnam, a Southern Utah University golfer from Thailand, are 4 under. First-round co-leaders Ariya Soldwisch of Cal State Northridge and Jiayi Wang of Northwestern have both shot 67-74 for 3-under totals. Faith Vui (68-74) of Samoa, a Women’s State Am semifinalist last year as a summer resident of Utah, is 2 under.
A nearly clean second card has Utah Tech’s Samantha Phelan T1 heading into the Mary Lou Baker Open final round.
Adding another layer to the final round is a shared hometown of Henderson, Nevada, among three contenders. Phelan played for Liberty High School; Mulhall and Soldwisch were teammates at Coronado.
Lam, who’s from Skyline High, played the tournament’s first 27 holes without a bogey and stood 8-under with a four-stroke lead. She then bogeyed three of the back nine’s first four holes, but steadied herself with five pars to finish. Lam had birdied Nos. 12-16 on Monday.
Phelan bogeyed the par-5 No. 1 in the second round, but made three birdies and 14 pars the rest of the way.
The 20-year-old Mulhall, known for her long-hitting ability, took advantage of that strength Tuesday. She birdied all five of TalonsCove’s par-5s, while posting two bogeys and a birdie on the tough par-3 No. 17.
Southern Utah University’s Siriporn “Orchid” Luangnam shot the low score of the second round.
Luangnam had a run of four birdies in five holes to close the front nine, while mixing in one bogey. She added one birdie on the back nine to match Mulhall, playing in the same group, for the day’s low score of 68.
The Mary Lou Baker Open, created in 2010 and named in honor of the Utah Golf Hall of Fame member who won six Women’s State Am titles, will crown a first-time champion Wednesday. The event has been expanded to 54 holes this year, as Utah Golf Association administrators combined it with the Women’s Stroke Play tournament.
Click here for the 36-hole leaderboard.
Mary Lou Baker Open round 2 recap written by Fairways Media senior writer Kurt Kragthorpe. Photography: Fairways Media file photos.