- Kate Walker advances to Utah women's state amateur final after accident recovery.
- Walker faces Nebraska's Arden Louchheim in Thursday's 36-hole championship match.
- Walker overcame Ashley Lam in semifinals; Louchheim defeated Kelsey Chugg, 3 and 1.
MIDWAY — Less than four months ago, Kate Walker had plenty of questions about her golf career when she was involved in a traffic accident in St. George.
The rising senior at Crimson Cliffs High School is now 36 holes away from winning perhaps the biggest honor in Utah women's amateur golf.
Walker advanced to the championship match of the 119th Utah women's state amateur with a 1-up victory over Westminster's Ashley Lam in Wednesday's semifinals at Wasatch Mountain State Park Golf Course.
Walker will face Nebraska rising junior Arden Louchheim, the former three-time 2A state champion at Rowland Hall, in Thursday's 36-hole championship match.
"This is one of the bigger tournaments of the year, and I look forward to playing it every year," Walker told Fairways Media before the opening round. "There's a lot of history with it, and winning has always been a dream of mine."
Back in April, Walker was involved in a crash that totaled the 17-year-old's blue Volkswagen sedan totaled and the pinky finger on her right hand broken, along with a mild concussion, her father told St. George News. St. George police reported no injuries to any of the five occupants of the other vehicle.
After initially recommending surgery to repair the broken finger — a surgery that would've required a minimum of 4-6 weeks to recover, effectively ending her junior season — doctors decided the surgery was unnecessary, and Walker only missed the final two weeks of the regular season.
The two-time 4A state medalist returned to help her Crimson Cliffs teammates qualify for the state meet, then finished second to Orem's Kaylee Westfall while pacing the Mustangs to the team title with a two-day total of 1-over-par 143.
Walker has also impressed on the Utah junior golf summer circuit, including a first-place finish at the UJGA Coca Cola Jr. at Thanksgiving Point Golf Club in May and a win in the A-bracket of the 42nd UJGA junior amateur in Park City in June.
After earning the No. 29 seed following stroke-play qualifying Monday, Walker held of fourth-seeded Natalie Mclane in the first round of match play before wins over Paige Anae and Adley Nelson en route to Wednesday's semifinal against Lam. After both golfers won two holes on the front nine and were all-square through 12, the rising sophomore at Westminster and reigning RMAC individual champion from Skyline High took her first lead on the par-3 13th hole.
But Walker, who has verbally committed to Utah Tech, reclaimed the lead by capturing the 14th and 15th holes, then finished off the match, 1 up with an easy par on the 18th green to advance to Thursday's finale.
The St. George product will face Nebraska's Arden Louchheim in the 36-hole championship match after the former Rowland Hall standout held off six-time women's state amateur champion Kelsey Chugg in the other semifinal.
The reigning state amateur champion seeking to become just the second women's golfer in Utah history with seven titles started in a hole, when Louchheim went 2-up after just three holes.
Chugg, the Weber State alum who currently works as the associate director of golf for Salt Lake City, came back to win three of the final six holes on the front nine before Louchheim squared the match with a birdie on the par-4 10th en route to a 3 and 1 win that included consecutive birdies on the 16th and 17th holes.
"I've never made it that far in this tournament," Louchheim told Fairways Media after Tuesday's Round of 16. "The driver has been working well this week, and irons have been decent. I think my game is kind of coming together at the right time."
Louchheim, the former three-time 2A state champion from Park City, was dominant down the stretch of her quarterfinal against BYU's Berlin Long, going 2 up after eight holes before claiming victory with wins on four of the first six of the back nine to seal it on the 15th green.
Chugg took another compelling win through Wednesday's quarterfinals by eliminating former Lone Peak star and incoming BYU freshman Aadyn Long, 5 and 3.
Long won just two holes of the 15 holes played in the match, including the first before Chugg took back-to-back victories on the third and fourth to go up 1 up — and never looked back.
Walker eliminated 6A all-state selection and Weber State signee Adley Nelson with a front-nine flurry before a 4 and 3 finish on the back.
Lam, who eliminated stroke-play medalist Whitney Banz from BYU, 3 and 1 in the second round of match play, advanced to the semifinals with a 2 and 1 victory over Weber State freshman Rachel Lillywhite.
119th Utah women's state amateur
Wasatch Mountain Golf Course in Midway
Quarterfinals
- Ashley Lam d. Rachel Lillywhite, 2 and 1
- Kate Walker d. Adley Nelson, 4 and 3
- Arden Louchheim d. Berlin Long, 5 and 3
- Kelsey Chugg d. Aadyn Long, 5 and 3
Semifinals
- Kate Walker d. Ashley Lam, 1 up
- Arden Louchheim d. Kelsey Chugg, 3 and 1
Thursday's Championship match
- Arden Louchheim vs. Kate Walker
