SALT LAKE CITY — After seven straight years of amateur champions, the latest edition of the Utah Women’s Open turned into a pro’s duel.
Emilee Hoffman, the fifth-year Epson Tour pro from Folsom, California, who recently moved to Sale Lake City from Scottsdale, Arizona, shot a two-day total of even-par 144 to clinch her first win since moving to Utah in January.
Hoffman moved to Utah in January with her fiancee Garek Bielaczyc, a Salt Lake City native who ran cross country at the University of Texas.
The former Footlocker West champion and two-time New Balance indoor national champ from East High met Hoffman through Longhorn athletics, and the couple celebrated another sporting accomplishment on the practice green at the Country Club where Hoffman held off 89 golfers Tuesday afternoon.
It was Hoffman’s first win since the Arizona Women’s Open in … 2020? No, really, she said in surprising herself the most with the recollection after accepting the $4,000 winners’ check.
“It’s been a little bit,” quipped Hoffman, who made $23,300 in earnings in 17 starts on the Epson Tour in 2024 that included one top-10 finish, “but it feels great to get in the winners’ circle again.”
Bountiful’s Haley Sturgeon, the assistant golf pro at The Country Club, finished second after shooting Tuesday’s low round of 3-under 69. Recent pro Ali Mulhall from Washington County tied for third at 4-over 148 with BYU junior Sunbin Seo, the former Timpview standout who took low amateur honors.
Former Utah Valley golfer Leighton Shosted, who plays professionally out of Mesa, Arizona, rounded out the top five at 5-over 149.
Hoffman shot 1-under 71 to take a three-shot lead into Tuesday’s final round.
But with wind gusts playing off nearby I-80 and 92-degree weather baking the greens, Hoffman saw some of the tougher conditions of the Country Club: fast greens and tricky lies.
“It’s hard to lead a golf tournament over night, and it’s hard to close it out once you have a lead,” said Hoffman, who teaches golf at several local municipal courses and didn’t check the leaderboard until she was walking up to the 18th hole. “You are kind of expected to win, and there’s a little more pressure.
“I was honestly just trying to do what I did yesterday. It worked out for me, and so just one shot at a time and see how it went.”
Bountiful’s Haley Sturgeon walks off the 18th hole with her caddy and father at the Utah Women’s Open at The Country Club of Salt Lake, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025 in Salt Lake City. (Photo: Sean Walker, KSL.com)
Sturgeon took advantage early, shooting 4-under 32 on the front nine to surge back into contention after carding 78 in Monday’s opening round.
The 31-year-old recent mother from Bountiful who has worked as an assistant pro at The Country Club since 2019 added birdies on the par-5, 456-yard 13th and par-4, 343-yard 15th holes to tie Hoffman for the lead.
“I was just playing more safe, and not pressing anything,” said Sturgeon, who “absolutely” took advantage of playing the 6,027-yard, par-72 course regularly. “That was the thought I had on the range: remember not to press it. When that happens, I overshoot it, get juiced up, and it just goes — and you can’t let that happen here.
“The whole time, I was just trying to cozy it up there … and luckily, some of those did cozy right in.”
But the Folsom, California, native rebounded from a bogey on the par-4, 380-yard 11th hole with her third birdie of the day on No. 13 to take control back from the challenger.
“I think decisions like that is what really helped me win today: playing really smart, and not trying to force it,” Hoffman said. “If you try to force it out here, you’re going to make mistakes.”
The 54-hole men’s Utah Open tees off next Friday, Aug. 15 at Riverside Country Club in Provo.
Larry H. Miller Utah Women’s OpenThe Country Club of Salt Lake
Top 10
144 — Emilee Hoffman (Folsom, Calif.)147 — Haley Sturgeon (Bountiful, Utah)148 — Ali Mulhall (Washington, Utah); Sunbin Seo (a) (Mapleton, Utah)149 — Leighton Shosted (Mesa, Ariz.)150 — Tori Peers (Pahrump, Nev.)152 — Jane Olson (a) (Bluffdale, Utah); Faith Kilgore (Canyon Lake, Texas)153 — Berlin Long (a) (Lehi, Utah); Natalie Mclane (a) (Herriman, Utah)
Full results available at utahpga.com
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