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Chang’s Utah Road Trip Ends With Mary Lou Baker Open Trophy

Fire and rain could not stop Claire Chang. A “10” on her scorecard failed to deter Rachel Lillywhite.

As the final round of the Mary Lou Baker Open moved toward a conclusion, following a one-hour weather delay in South Jordan, it became clear that the champion would have a good story to tell. In the end, the trophy belonged to Chang, who was about to do her share of the driving in a three-generational road trip from Glenmoor Golf Club back to her home near Seattle, after they experienced wildfire-related detours on the way to Utah.

Mary Lou Baker Open champion Claire Chang celebrates her four-shot victory after a closing 5-under 67.

The UC Davis sophomore made two birdies after the stoppage, while Lillywhite bogeyed the last two holes. That accounts for Chang’s four-stroke victory, a breakthrough she believes “really symbolizes a turning point for me after such a rough freshman year,” she said, “getting back to just playing like ‘me’ again.”

The enhanced Mary Lou Baker Open, expanded last year to 54 holes, keeps attracting out-of-state college golfers. Utah Tech’s Samantha Phelan overcame players from the likes of Northwestern and Cal State Northridge in 2025, but Chang (71-73-67) was just too steady for Lillywhite to overtake her as she finished at 5 under par. BYU’s Whitney Banz (72-75-69) placed third.

Rachel Lillywhite rolls a putt during the final round of the Mary Lou Baker Open, where she finished runner-up at Glenmoor Golf Club.

Imagine, though, if Lillywhite had won a Utah Golf Association major tournament, even with a 10. It happened on the par-4 No. 10 in Tuesday’s second round. The Timpview High School graduate, who’s transferring from Weber State to Utah Valley University, managed to regroup for a 74 that kept her in contention, thanks to an eagle on No. 18.

And then she began the final round with another eagle and reached 6 under par for the day through 11 holes, before setting for a 68. The best part: She birdied No. 10 this time,

The “10” deserves an explanation (out-of-bounds drive, ball in a divot, bunker trouble and an unplayable lie are the basics), although the real story is how she responded to it. Lillywhite just treated it as a “weird” occurrence.

“Honestly, I’d been playing pretty good,” she said. “It was just so strange that I almost didn’t worry about doing it again.”

She also recovered from a triple bogey on the fourth hole of the tournament, while carding 15 birdies and two eagles in three days (Chang made 13 birdies) to finish her adventure at 1 under.

So even with those late bogeys Wednesday, the two-time Women’s State Amateur quarterfinalist left Glenmoor feeling “pretty good, to be honest,” she said. “There were definitely shots that were just really bad, but there were probably more that were really good.”

Whitney Banz shares a smile during the final round of the Mary Lou Baker Open, where she finished third.

Chang may not have been flawless in the final round, but she was close to it, after starting with a one-stroke lead. She loves Glenmoor, having played the course in a 2023 American Junior Golf Association event. Like other collegians, Chang was looking for competition to conclude the summer.

Plus, her grandmother was visiting from Korea. So she and her mother, Ki-Jung Jun, made an American road trip out of the MLB Open. The only trouble was how wildfires in Eastern Washington turned the 11-hour itinerary into a 17-hour trek. Chang, who will turn 19 on Saturday, mostly slept on the way, so she was prepared for more time behind the wheel on the way home.

She would have a lot of good shots to replay on the drive, having come to Utah with “no expectations” of her performance. During her bogey-free final round, Chang said, “I actually didn’t think about chasing that trophy. I just wanted to come out here and show something to myself.”

Steph Belnap earned low senior honors at (+24) 240.

Click here for final Mary Lou Baker Open leaderboard.

2026 Mary Lou Baker Open tournament recap written by Fairways Media senior writer Kurt Kragthorpe. Photos courtesy of Fairways Media/Randy Dodson.