Former College of New Mexico golfer Sarah Salvo returned to aggressive golf final November after taking about 10 years off from the game, however is already making a big effect on the 116th Utah Girls’s State Beginner at Ogden Golf & Nation Membership this week.
Salvo, who grew up in Glendale, California, upset 2020 champion Grace Summerhays 4 and a pair of in a Spherical of 16 match Tuesday afternoon to maneuver into Wednesday’s quarterfinals. She’s taking part in in her first Utah Girls’s State Am, and to date, so good.
After taking pictures a 2-over 74 in Monday’s 18-hole stroke-play qualifying spherical to tie for sixth, Salvo downed Nuny Khamone 7 and 5 Tuesday morning within the Spherical of 32. She knew nothing about Summerhays, an Arizona State golfer.
“After the primary spherical, I walked by the signal along with her image on it and I used to be like, oh, OK, cool. I knew it was going to be a enjoyable afternoon.” — Girls’s State Beginner quarterfinalist Sarah Salvo after defeating 2020 champion Grace Summerhays
“After the primary spherical, I walked by the signal along with her image on it and I used to be like, oh, OK, cool,” Salvo instructed Fairways Journal. “I knew it was going to be a enjoyable afternoon.”
Salvo stated she lives 5 minutes away from Bonneville Golf Course in Salt Lake Metropolis. She performed within the Mary Lou Baker Event and Girls’s Stroke-Play Championship earlier this summer season in her first style of event golf since faculty in 2008-12. Salvo is a medical analysis affiliate for PRA Well being Sciences, in line with her LinkedIn web page.
Salvo will meet 2018 champion Tess Blair, a Sacramento State golfer, within the quarterfinals Wednesday morning. The semifinals can be held Wednesday afternoon, and the 18-hole championship match can be contested Thursday morning.
Sophie Simon, a @YaleWGolf freshman, strikes on to the Utah Girls’s State Beginner Spherical of 16, defeating Roberta Scott, 7&6. Simon, a former Maryland Girls’s Stroke Play champion, is in Utah for the summer season dwelling along with her mother and father within the Park Metropolis space. pic.twitter.com/IouENDVgRr
— Randy Dodson (@RandyatFairways) August 2, 2022
“No, not even a little bit,” Salvo stated, when requested if her sport was in good condition after being away from golf for therefore lengthy. “I’m simply glad to see total enchancment.”
Summerhays, daughter of famed swing coach Boyd Summerhays (Tony Finau’s coach) and sister of two-time males’s state am champ Preston Summerhays, had no drawback with Libby Ward within the morning, profitable 8 and seven.
However in opposition to Salvo, {the teenager} by no means had the lead.
“I’m going to present all of it to my caddie. He stored my head screwed on straight. He did a superb job,” Salvo stated, referring to her husband, A.J.
Blair, the medalist Monday after taking pictures a 2-under 70, wanted 19 holes to remove Timpview Excessive product Rachel Lillywhite in a Spherical of 32 match Tuesday morning, then drubbed Aimee Williams 6 and 5 within the afternoon.
BYU’s Adeline Anderson additionally had a troublesome morning match, outlasting Isabel Gutierrez Pailaud of Wolf Creek Golf Membership 1 up earlier than beating Jacklyn Gonzalez 5 and 4 within the afternoon.
The opposite quarterfinalists are Sophie Simon, defending champion Lila Galea’i, incoming BYU freshman Berlin Lengthy, four-time champion Kelsey Chugg and BYU golfer Kerstin Fotu, the 2021 champion.
Simon is a Yale golfer from Potomac, Maryland, who’s in Utah for the summer season dwelling along with her mother and father within the Park Metropolis space.
Simon faces BYU’s Anderson Wednesday morning, whereas Lengthy meets Galea’i in a rematch of final 12 months’s last, which was gained in 19 holes by Galea’i. Fotu and Chugg sq. off within the fourth quarterfinal at 8 a.m.
The Blair-Salvo winner will face the Simon-Anderson winner in a single semifinal Wednesday afternoon, whereas the opposite semi will function the Lengthy-Galeai’i winner in opposition to the Fotu-Chugg winner.
