This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Francis • Lea Garner and Kendra Dalton have been teammates on BYU's women's golf team for the past two and a half years, and roommates the past two years.
Naturally, they ended up facing each other in the championship match of the 110th Utah Women's State Amateur at Victory Ranch Golf Club on Friday afternoon.
In what both women described as a good-natured, congenial match, the rising junior Dalton edged the graduating senior Garner by the slimmest of margins, taking a 1-up victory thanks to a clutch 12-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole and some hiccups on short putts by Garner down the stretch.
"I've always looked up to her the whole time we've been at school, so it was kind of crazy that it came down to this," said Dalton, who went to high school in North Carolina. "We have been teammates for [almost] three years now, and she has always been the older one, the No. 1 player on the team. To be able to squeeze it out there at the end, it is an awesome feeling."
Dalton advanced to the championship match by downing Dixie State's Cobair Collinsworth 5 and 4 in the semifinals, while Garner had a more difficult time with another BYU golfer, Brooklyn Hocker, before taking a 1-up victory.
Having won stroke-play medalist honors for the third-straight time at this tournament two days ago, Garner seemed destined to finally break through for her first State Am title, but a balky putter did her in. The Bonneville High product who will turn professional after LPGA Tour Qualifying School in a few weeks missed a 4-footer for par on the 17th hole and fell behind by a hole when Dalton made par.
On No. 18, Garner's putt to win the hole and send the match into extra holes was on line the whole way, but fell off to the left at the last month and hung on the lip. Dalton then tapped in to halve the hole and win the match.
"I expected her to make it. That's just Lea; she's clutch," Dalton said.
"There were a lot of three-putts, which killed me, and off the tee I struggled today as well," Garner said.
Dalton received a congratulatory text from BYU women's golf coach Carrie Roberts when the match concluded; Roberts was visiting a recruit and unable to attend the match between the best friends.
"You don't want to have to beat your best friend, but it is also a great part of golf, match play is, and we both played great and gave it a good fight. It was a good, good thing," Dalton said.
Garner described the match as intense and nerve-wracking, but fun.
"We are good enough friends that we can look past [the importance of the match] and just go play," Garner said. "We are both competitors. We both want to win, so it was actually pretty fun to do that and go joke around like that. Even towards the end we were joking and it was so fun."
On the pivotal 15th hole, Dalton squared the match with the birdie after hitting her tee shot into some weeds right of the fairway. After a lengthy search, a reporter found her ball just before the five-minute deadline, and she knocked her approach to within 12 feet.
Dalton becomes the first BYU golfer to win the Women's Am since Daphne Vines Parker won back-to-back titles in 2007 and 2008.
Twitter: @drewjay —
110th Utah Women's State Amateur
At Victory Ranch Golf Club
Friday's semifinal matches
Kendra Dalton def. Cobair Collinsworth, 5 and 4
Lea Garner def. Brooklyn Hocker, 1 up
Friday's Championship Match
Kendra Dalton def. Lea Garner, 1 up