Ashley Lam, a Skyline High School alumna and Westminster University junior, won the 120th Utah Women's State Amateur on Thursday, July 23, defeating six-time champion Kelsey Chugg 1 up in a 36-hole championship match at Oakridge Country Club in Farmington.

Lam, 20, clinched the title on the final hole by sticking a choked-down pitching wedge to within 5 feet of the pin from 104 yards out. Chugg conceded after bunker trouble.

"It was just my brother telling me to lock in and just stop being a little baby," Lam told the Deseret News after the match, describing how she steadied herself down the stretch.

The win caps a remarkable run for the No. 23 seed, who entered the tournament after shooting a 77 in stroke-play qualifying. Lam beat Jane Olson 2 up, Natalie McLane 5 and 4, Rosie Oettli 5 and 3, and Samantha Phelan in 19 holes to reach her first final.

The championship match was tight all day. Lam led by as many as three holes, but Chugg rallied to square the match on the 35th hole after Lam made a double-bogey on No. 17. Chugg never held the lead.

Lam's brother Sean, 22, caddied for her during the final. Sean played golf briefly at Glendale College in Arizona and now works for Callaway. Ashley started playing at age 10 after watching Sean and their father, Dat, at Fore Lakes Golf Course in Taylorsville.

At one point during the match, a Bruno Mars song played from speakers near the No. 10 tee. Lam, who was 1 up at the time, sang along.

Chugg, 35, is the associate director of golf for Salt Lake City and was seeking her seventh State Amateur title. She is chasing Bev Nelson's record of eight championships, won between 1955 and 1979. Chugg's match record in the tournament dropped to 45-9 with the loss.

Lam was named a 2025-26 Women's Golf Coaches Association Second Team All-American and has won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference individual title in both of her seasons at Westminster. In a May 28 profile in the Millcreek Journal, she said her long-term goal is to turn professional, with her Finance degree as a backup.

The victory earns Lam an exemption into the 2026 U.S. Women's Amateur at the Honors Course in Tennessee in early August.

What's next

The 2027 Utah Women's State Amateur will be held at Bonneville Golf Course in Salt Lake City.