Former junior golf star Grace Summerhays makes pro debut at Utah Women's Open

SARATOGA SPRINGS — For Grace Summerhays, there may not have been a better place to make her pro golf debut than Monday's opening round of the 10th annual Larry H. Miller Utah Women's Open at TalonsCove Golf Course.

The former Arizona State golfer who spent her summers in Farmington as part of what many call Utah's first family of golf, officially turned pro last week a year after graduating from college and taking time to heal a nagging wrist injury. That left just enough time for the state women's open before the latest Summerhays pro takes on qualifying school in the fall.

"It sounded like the perfect decision to start here where it all began," Summerhays said.

Summerhays' first competitive outing as a pro didn't start out perfect when she opened with a bogey on the par-5, 488-yard first hole.

But the latest in a long line of Summerhays pro golfers — including older brother Preston and uncle Danny who competed in last week's Utah Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour — rebounded with back-to-back birdies at Nos. 4 and 5, and added another on the par-4, 383-yard 10th to finish at 1-under 71.

"The first two holes, I was feeling it a little bit. But other than that, I think it was pretty good," said the younger Summerhays, the former Utah junior amateur champion who became the youngest winner of the Utah women's state amateur six years ago at 16.

"It's always been my goal to be a pro," she added. "I waited a year to try to get healthy with my wrists, and now that I haven't had pain I felt like it was time. It's perfect starting it here."

It would've been enough to stay within a few shots of the lead, and it was when Summerhays came off the final tee three strokes off the leader.

But Ali Mulhall, the former youth golf phenom from Nevada who moved to Washington County to work with Black Desert Resort and turned pro in spring 2025, carded seven birdies during a bogey-free round to finish at 7-under 65.

Mulhall got going with birdies on four of the final five holes of the front nine, dropping a six-iron within 15 feet on No. 7 for the first of three-straight birdies to pull to 32-33 on the day.

"I knew I just had to keep giving myself birdie opportunities, doing the things I was doing," Mulhall said, "and give myself as many chances as I could get."

Haley Costello, the Hurricane native who played collegiately at Tulsa and competes on the Annika tour, is three shots back in second place.

Defending champion Emilee Hoffman is tied for third at 3-under in a group that also includes former BYU standout Lea Garner and Haley Sturgeon, the seven-time Utah PGA Women's Player of the Year from Layton.

Hoffman found her putt on the back nine of her competitive debut at TalonsCove en route to five birdies that included three in four holes to come off No. 16 at 5-under. But a double bogey at No. 18 dropped her back into the crowd at 69.

"It's definitely hard to repeat; there's a bit of pressure there, whether you are trying to or not," admitted Hoffman, who played with two of her best friends in golf in six-time Utah women's amateur champion Kelsey Chugg and two-time amateur champion Natalie Stone to help take the edge off. "I'm just trying to stay in the moment, and hit each shot one shot at a time. That's all I can control out here, and I'm just going to do my best."

Mulhall, Costello and Makena Junkin, the NAIA individual national champion at Texas Wesleyan, in the final group of the 36-hole tournament Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. MT.

Larry H. Miller Utah Women's Open

TalonsCove Golf Course

Round 1 leaderboard (top 10 and ties)

• 65 — Ali Mulhall (p)
• 68 — Haley Costello (p)
• 69 — Makena Junkin (a), Emilee Hoffman (p), Lea Garner (p), Haley Sturgeon (p)
• 70 — Natalie Stone (p), Alexandra White (p), Faith Kilgore (p)
• 71 — Elle Higgins (a), Rachel Lillywhite (a), Kelsey Chugg (a), Kerstin Ngakuru (p), Grace Summerhays (p), Whitney Banz (a), Katie Somers (p)
• Full results available at utahpga.com

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