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Senior Women’s State Amateur: Kareen Larson earns her first title
The responsibilities of operating a golf facility kept Kareen Larson from playing in last September’s Utah Senior Women’s State Amateur.
Larson managed to include this year’s event in her schedule, although she did hustle from Mountain Dell Golf Course to her job Saturday morning after completing a run to her first title in the 33rd edition of the tournament.
Kareen Larson clinched the championship with a 3-and-1 victory on the 17th green at Mountain Dell’s Lake Course, celebrating alongside her caddie, Molly Steffes.
She might have made it to TalonsCove Golf Club about 40 minutes earlier, except that Anouk Patty kept extending the match. In the end, Larson’s routine par on the Lake Course’s par-3 No. 17 secured a 3-and-1 victory.
“This is just a pleasant surprise, for sure,” Larson said, citing a year-plus of injuries that have affected her game. “I didn’t even think this was likely. I mean, I’m just barely starting to play again.”
Even with that prolonged workload Saturday, Larson played a total of only 43 holes in three matches. Patty, who was among three Utah Golf Association newcomers in the match-play bracket of eight golfers, went 21 holes in Friday’s semifinals vs. Nancy Beck of Texas.
Runner-up Anouk Patty was 5-down with five to play then won holes 14-16 to extend the match.
In the quarterfinals, Patty upset seven-time champion Annette Gaiotti, the No. 1 seed. “I’m proud of how I did, and happy,” said Patty, a Park City resident and Chief of Sport for US Ski and Snowboard. “I learned a ton, and that’s what I came in here trying to do. … I mean, it was a great experience.”
Patty could say she won six holes against Larson, offset by how the champion took nine of the 17 holes. Larson got into a groove in the middle of the round, with some excellent ball-striking that illustrated how she had won Friday’s two matches in dominant fashion.
The left-handed player won Nos. 9, 10, 12 and 13 to go 5 up with five holes to play. Patty’s late rally started when she nearly holed out a wedge shot for an eagle on the par-5 No. 14, then Larson also failed to close her out on the next two holes. But Larson steadied herself on No. 17 with a short par putt to win the hole and earn the trophy.
With the win, Kareen Larson’s championship Player Performance Points are projected to place her in a tie with Steph Belnap for the 2025 UGA Senior Women’s Player of the Year honor.
The victory meant a lot to Larson in her third year of senior eligibility (and second entry into this tournament). “It’s a huge deal,” she said, citing the other names on the permanent trophy.
Considering her injury-plagued season, she was just hoping to play reasonably well at Mountain Dell and “never dreamed of actually winning it,” she said.
Even without playing in the 2024 Senior Women’s State Amateur, Larson won the UGA Senior Women’s Player of the Year award. The points she gained Saturday should give her a tie for the 2025 award with Steph Belnap, once the calculations become official Oct. 1.
Click here for match play bracket scoring.
33rd Utah Senior Women’s State Amateur championship match recap written by Fairways Media senior writer Kurt Kragthorpe.Photography by Fairways Media/Randy Dodson.