BYU golfer Lila Galea’i leads a solid field in the Utah Women’s Amateur

Next month’s 116th Utah Amateur Women’s State Championship golf tournament at Ogden Golf & Country Club will feature one of the strongest courses in the event’s history, especially if 2020 Champion Grace Summerhays from the Arizona State University women’s golf team, as has been rumored.

But girls and women won’t necessarily be chasing 18-year-old Summerhays, who won the title two years ago at Soldier Hollow Golf Course.

There was a new champion last year, and the long shot Lila Galea’i of the BYU Women’s Golf Team he is as intimidating with his length as any player in recent memory.

“She’s definitely one of the favorites,” said the woman who lost to Galea’i in a 19-hole championship game last year at Oakridge Country Club in Farmington, an incoming Cougars freshman. long berlin from Lone Peak High.

Long, her sister Aadyn, four-time champion Kelsey Chugg and Galea’i played Thursday on the par-72 layout that lines Washington Boulevard in Ogden and declared the course ready to test the best players in the state. The tournament begins on August 1 with 18 holes of stroke play to determine the 32 players who will advance to match play.

The 18-hole championship game is on August 4.

Berlin Long, who has won two 6A women’s singles state championships in her career at Lone Peak, said winning the tournament is “high” on her wish list, especially after what happened last year. She led Galea’i by two holes with two to play, but Galea’i birdied 17th and 18th to force a sudden-death playoff, then she birdied No. 1 in the playoff to take the trophy.

“I think my favorite memories from last year were the last putt against Berlin and how on number 17 my putt fell to make a birdie and get within one,” Galea’i said. “I knew I had a chance then, because anything can happen with match play.”

Galea’i said the win “changed my life” and gave him “a huge confidence boost” heading into his second season at BYU.

“I remember coming to State Am, I kept winning games, and I was like, ‘Man, I might have a chance to win this.’ She told me to keep doing what she was doing and finish strong, and that’s what I did. It was really cool.”

Galea’i’s whole story is great, particularly since no one else in his family plays competitive golf. Raymond and Mili Galea’i have eight children, six daughters and two sons, and Lila (who can play the ukulele behind her back, according to her BYUcougars.com profile) is the only one who takes golf seriously. .

Raymond played football at Dixie State, his brother Jray played football at BYU, and his sister Eternity played basketball at BYU.

“We are an athletic family,” Lila said. “We all play sports, from soccer to basketball to volleyball, but I’m the only one who plays golf, really.”

After his family moved to Utah County from Kahuku, Hawaii, in 2009, Raymond Galea’i got a part-time job closing the East Bay Golf Course (now Timpanogos Golf Course) in Provo and little Lila was hitting the balls on the practice greens. and driving range with her father’s old clubs while she waited for her shift to end.

“The pro at the time, Kean Ridd, took notice of me and gave me my first set of clubs, and I just went from there,” he said. “I owe him and the East Bay a lot for getting me started.”

Lila quickly became a young phenomenon, and in 2017 she won the 13-14 division of the Utah Junior Amateur Championship match, defeating Berlin Long. She is proud to be able to show the world that people of Pacific Island descent can thrive in golf and she lists her fellow Polynesian tony finau among his heroes.

“I mean, golf has given me the opportunity to meet so many new people. And all the people I’ve met in my life, I know I wouldn’t have been able to meet them if I hadn’t played golf,” he said. “Honestly, I see it as a blessing. Being able to be here is just a blessing.”

Galea’i humbly says he had a “decent” sophomore stint at BYU. He began the 2021-22 season tied for first at the Dick McGuire Invitational and finished the year ranked 11th in the West Coast Conference championships. She tied for 21st in the NCAA Franklin (Tennessee) Regional.

Since the college season ended, she has played in the Southwestern Amateur in Arizona and attempted to qualify for the US Women’s Amateur in Colorado, missing the cut by a couple of shots. She won the Sizzler Am at the Talking Stick Golf Club in Arizona the week after playing in the Southwestern Amateur, defeating runner-up Jieming Yang by 13 shots.

“I’ve been playing pretty well,” he said. “I’ve been making some changes to my swing, with the help of Coach (Carrie) Roberts at BYU and others. Nothing major, just working on little things. I am ready (to defend her 2021 title).”

Beyond college, Galea’i hopes to play golf professionally and see where it takes her. Her strengths are her length (she estimates she hits the ball 300 yards off the tee) and her ability to play under pressure, she said.

His favorite courses are Timpanogos (of course) and Thanksgiving Point.

The quartet of your dreams?

“I have to go with Tiger Woods, for sure,” he said. “And then Michael Jordan, although he is not a golfer. I’ve always wanted to play golf with him. So I would say Tony Finau and Viktor Hovland.”

Kristin Murphy, Deseret News