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By Kurt Kragthorpe
Emilee Hoffman is ‘loving living in Utah’
Ever since the Utah Section PGA launched the Larry H. Miller Utah Women’s Open, Executive Director Devin Dehlin has wanted to attract more out-of-state professionals.
Dehlin may have discovered the formula: Sending a Utah high school graduate to an out-of-state college, having him meet a women’s golf team member and eventually ask her to marry him and live in his hometown.
Well, it worked in the case of Emilee Hoffman, who became the champion of the ninth Utah Women’s Open at The Country Club in Salt Lake City August 5th.
Hoffman (71-73) balanced eight birdies and eight bogeys for two days in a three-stroke victory worth $4,000 over Utah PGA member Haley Sturgeon (78-69), the club’s assistant pro, who nearly produced an even bigger, close-to-home story.
So let’s connect the dots that brought Hoffman to Utah. She grew up in Northern California and went to the University of Texas to play golf in 2016. During their freshman year, she met Garek Bielaczyc, a Longhorn distance runner from Salt Lake City’s East High School. They became engaged last August and plan to be married in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 24.
Having lived in Arizona as an LPGA Epson Tour player, Hoffman moved to Utah in January to join her fiance, who works in banking. She teaches lessons at Salt Lake City’s golf courses, describing that role as “a nice change of pace for me.”
Hoffman added, “It’s just been a really warm welcome here. I’m loving living in Utah.”
Sturgeon was instrumental in bringing the Larry H. Miller Utah Women’s Open to The Country Club and securing additional sponsorships that markedly increased the 2025 purse.
She was thrilled to have golfers of ages 14 to 72 experience an elite level of women’s golf in the state. So her own performance was secondary to how she will look back at the event. Sturgeon absolutely wanted to hold that trophy, but a final-round run that created a stir around the course will be a lasting memory for a lot of people, including her.
After opening with a 78, the club’s assistant pro started the final round seven strokes behind Hoffman, the leader and eventual champion. Sturgeon birdied four of the first eight holes in the final round. She finished with the tournament’s low round of 3-under-par 69, ending up three strokes behind Hoffman and earning $3,000 for second place.
More than anything, Sturgeon was proud to have played a role in a milestone event, and thankful to the club’s administration for providing such a showcase. Her biggest takeaway was “letting the girls know that they are important,” she said, “and we’re trying to grow women’s golf in Utah.”
2025 Larry H. Miller Utah Women’s Open Results
BYU Freshman Kihei Akina is the 99-year-old Utah Open’s Youngest Winner
Kihei Akina soon will be playing Riverside Country Club in qualifying rounds to make BYU’s traveling team as a freshman. In the Larry H. Miller Utah Open, he rose above a bunch of Cougar stars of the recent past, including Zac Jones, Carson Lundell and Cole Ponich.
Akina also topped a BYU legend. Mike Brannan was 19 years, seven months and 21 days old when he won the Food King Utah Open with a 10-under-par total at Riverside on Aug. 17, 1975.
Exactly a half-century later, Akina was 19 years, seven months and 14 days old when he posted a 17-under total for 54 holes. So he beat Brannan by seven days and seven strokes in relation to par, even though the 1975 Utah Open was conducted over 72 holes.
A native of Hawaii who attended Lone Peak High School, Akina is a member of the newly created U.S. National Junior Team. He may be BYU’s biggest addition since Brannan, a U.S. Junior Amateur champion who would play for an NCAA runner-up team in 1976. Having retired after 31 years as BYU’s coach, the late Karl Tucker once said Brannan came to Provo “with more credentials than any guy I’ve ever recruited.”
Going into his sophomore year, Brannan added a Utah Open title. He went on to play the PGA Tour for five years before returning to amateur status and reaching the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur twice. He died of cancer at age 57.
Akina shot 66-65-68 for a two-stroke win over amateur Cole Ogden and pros Spencer Wallace and Brady McKinlay. Boston Bracken, about to start his Arizona State career, finished fifth to complete what was likely the Utah Open’s best amateur production since the 1930s.
Recent champions of the Utah Open received $22,000. Each of them drove home with an oversized check bearing their name in big letters.
The winner’s reward was boosted to $25,000 in 2025 with the Larry H. Miller Company as title sponsor.
A different number, and an unnamed “Low Professional” label, appeared on this year’s check in the awards presentation.
The good news for St. George-based golf teacher Spencer Wallace, an Utah PGA Associate, is he earned a total of $22,000, thanks partly to the Section Sidebar.
For the first time since 2004, when amateur Greg Buckway won and Kent Abegglen and Tommy Johnson tied for second (earning $12,500 each), two pros split the first and second prizes. In 2017, Zahkai Brown finished solo second behind BYU golfer Patrick Fishburn.
In the Utah Section PGA’s quarter-century of conducting the Utah Open, creating incentives for Section members and associates to compete has been a priority. In recent years, the Section Sidebar purse has become a major reward.
No Utahn has topped Wallace’s earnings in one tournament. He received $20,500 as co-low pro and $1,500 as the Section’s top performer. Citing his friends in the Section, Wallace said, “It’s always fun when you can finish on top with those guys.”
Wallace (67-68-66) coaches young golfers in PGA Professional Chris Mulhall’s CHAMPX program and assists the Utah Tech University men’s golf team.
Of the 13 Section-affiliated pros who made the 36-hole cut, four represent the two courses operated by Davis County: Zach Johnson, PGA Head Professional of Davis Park GC; Shane Scott, Davis Park assistant pro; Pete Stone, PGA Head Professional of Valley View GC; and Dustin Volk, Davis County’s PGA Director of Golf.
2025 Larry H. Miller Utah Open Results
