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Format Change Fuels Drama as Hubbs, Shelley Capture UGA Junior Crowns

If anyone questioned why Utah Golf Association administrators altered the format of their newest championship after only one year, Navy Hubbs provided the answer Wednesday.

In the original format, she would have gone home with a runner-up medal after 18 holes. Thanks to a combination of the move to a 36-hole final match and her own brilliant play in the middle of the afternoon round, Hubbs took the trophy with a 2-and-1 win over Remi Rawlings in the 2nd UGA Utah Girls’ Junior State Amateur at Glenmoor Golf Club in South Jordan.

This event keeps offering history-making opportunities, and Hubbs followed through with another record that may last a while. The rising junior at Salem Hills High School won five consecutive holes, going from 3 down to 2 up. After taking her first lead on the 26th hole of the match, she led the rest of the way.

And here’s another first: Colin Clawson, the UGA’s Director, Championship & Golf Operations, proudly presented Hubbs with an exemption letter to the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club in July.

In the awards presentation, Clawson spoke of “the talent level we have in this state” as a driver of the move to 36 holes, a format that would determine a worthy champion.

The afternoon round made it all possible for Hubbs. So did the talks she had with herself and family members during lunch. “I just got mentally in it again and tried my best to just fight through it,” Hubbs said. “I think the break really helped, honestly. … I think I was more confident in myself, like, ‘You can do this. You made it this far. So, just trust yourself.’ ”

Her mother, Sara, especially instilled some belief that took effect when Hubbs won Nos. 5 through 9, plus No. 11, to suddenly go 3 up. Rawlings kept applying pressure, but Hubbs ended the match with a winning par on No. 17.

“I got a little tired out,” said Rawlings, a Weber High School graduate who will play for Westminster University.

The format change contributed to her defeat in the summer heat, but Rawlings knows some 36-hole days await her in college golf. ”This really helped me prepare for that,” she said, “even though it was a long day.”

Hubbs became the first Utah-based Girls’ champion of this tournament, after Ashley Gettleman took the 2024 trophy. In the semifinals, Hubbs was a 4-and-3 winner of Lucinda Wu, Gettleman’s high school teammate in Monterey, California. Rawlings also won 4 and 3, against Hazel Peters, a Hawaii resident who regularly plays in Utah in the summers.

Either way, Wednesday’s winner would have become a redemption story after her experience in the inaugural event last June at Wasatch Mountain Golf Course. Hubbs lost in the first round of match play and Rawlings never made it that far, being disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard after the stroke-play round.

Rawlings later qualified for the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, getting the national experience that Hubbs will enjoy next month. “It’s exciting,” Hubbs said. “I’m ready to go see all the competition.”

In the quarterfinals, Hubbs was a 1-up winner over qualifying medalist Adley Nelson, who was one of three Lone Peak HIgh School golfers to reach that stage of the 16-golfer bracket before each was eliminated. Rawlings also won 1 up in the quarterfinals, defeating Kate Walker, the recent winner of the Utah Junior Golf Association’s annual match-play tournament in the Girls 15-18 division.

Austin Shelley played his first 13 holes Wednesday like he had somewhere important to go.

Shelley eventually became the champion of the 2nd UGA Utah Junior State Amateur at Glenmoor Golf Club in South Jordan. His victory came only after some combination of the Utah Golf Association’s format change and Jaxon Erickson’s determination made him play another 23 holes after having gone 5 up.

Shelley took the trophy with a 1-up win in 36 holes, after the UGA expanded the final match from 18 holes to model the U.S. Junior Amateur. The move certainly added to Wednesday’s level of drama, with this twist: Erickson’s comeback, including a birdie on the par-4 No. 17 to extend the match, enabled Shelley’s parents to witness the conclusion.

Brian and Solhee Shelley’s trip to Glenmoor came in between the wedding ceremony and reception of their oldest son, Tyson.

In last year’s Junior State Am script, Austin Shelley would have exited by mid-morning as a 5-and-4 winner. As it was, Shelley said playing his way through the full, five-match schedule created “definitely, a ton of mixed emotions … a crazy day, but a good day” in his family’s lore.

Taking home the trophy meant a lot to the Skyline High School senior, who’s committed to BYU. Citing his talented opponents, he said, “Just knowing I could beat all of them proves a lot about my golf game.”

That list of rivals included Erickson, a University of Utah commit who plays for Riverton High School and grew up at Glenmoor. Erickson thrived in his home-course environment until Wednesday morning, as trouble with a hook off the tee contributed to his falling 5 down after 13 holes. But then he won three of the last four holes in that round and quickly was only 1 down in the afternoon, before Shelley regained control.

“It was a rough start,” Erickson said. “I brought it back, had a great fight, but it wasn’t enough.”

Shelley responded well to the unhappy ending of the morning round, reminding himself he was still 2 up in a championship match. “I pretty much tried to forget about the last five holes,” he said.

He succeeded in regrouping, joining his oldest brother as a UGA champion. Tyson claimed the 2024 Winterchamps title. Austin, Tyson and middle brother Jackson all are entered in next month’s State Amateur.

There was some irony about the 18th green being the site of Wednesday’s awards presentation. Shelley didn’t have to play No. 18 in any of his first four matches, including a 4-and-3 win over Ryder Huish in the semifinals. In the round of 16, Shelley eliminated qualifying medalist Mack Herzog, 2 and 1.

Erickson needed a winning par on No. 18 to force extra holes with Kanyon DeRyke in the semifinals, then birdied No. 1 to end the match. Erickson had topped his longtime Glenmoor friend, Elliot Bond, in the quarterfinals, after Bond delivered a remarkable performance in the round of 16. Bond birdied nine of the first 12 holes to take a 4-up lead over Jared McCleary, then parred the next four holes (while losing one of them) to complete a 4-and-2 victory.

 

Feature story written by Fairways Media senior writer Kurt Kragthorpe. Photos by Fairways Media/Randy Dodson.