Written by Beaux Yenchik, Manager of Media and Communications
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho—If there is one thing to be taken from this year’s State Am and Women’s State Am it is that every golfer is different, and if you own your game, you have a chance. Distance off the tee or the age of a player doesn’t guarantee one a win. The book of golf doesn’t tell you how or what your approach to the game should be, and the winners proved that by writing their own chapters.
Carly Carter, the Women’s State Am winner, entered an elite club as the 89th winner of the event. Finishing at two-over-par for the championship, Carter pulled away from the field with a four-stroke victory over last year’s champion, Kelli Ann Strand. In the 94th playing of the State Amateur, it was the 43-year-old hometown hero who walked away victorious. Jeffrey Anderson signed his final scorecard to finish the tournament at seven-under-par—beating second-place finisher, Jake Slocum, by two strokes.
IT IS WHAT IT IS
Staring down a 50-footer for eagle on the second green, Carter found herself trailing perhaps the most confident female golfer in Idaho. Stepping up to hit the putt, Carter, just as she had all tournament long, struck the ball with confidence and watched it drop from deep. Quickly erasing the two-stroke deficit, Carter showed her playing partners that she was there to play and wasn’t going to go anywhere.
“I came into today [knowing] it was going to be tough with [Strand], especially coming from behind,” Carter said. “But, I just came into it, and I [told myself] I was going to play as good as [I] can…The eagle on two really helped get things going because then it was all square.”
Fast forward to the turn, Carter and Strand found themselves locked in a battle for the ages. Brooke Patterson, the first-round leader, had shot herself out of contention with four bogeys and a double-bogey on the front—making the remaining nine holes a two-woman contest for the Jean Lane Smith Cup.
Carter decided to take a page out of Strand’s playbook by pulling driver on the short par-4 13th. While Carter knocked it nearly hole-high in the left rough, Strand laid back off the tee—sticking her approach shot to five feet. Strand walked away from the hole with a one-shot lead after Carter failed to take advantage of the great drive.
Carly Carter (middle) posing with family following her Women’s State Am winner.
Momentum didn’t last long for Strand as the tides began to turn in favor of Carter. Doing as she had all day, Carter hit a solid drive on the next hole and then found herself walking off the green with a solid two-putt par.
Strand, on the other hand, gave up her lead and left the 14th hole trailing by one. In what was a case of bad luck, Strand’s third shot ricocheted off the flagstick back to the front part of the green, and then proceeded to three-putt for double bogey.
Carter continued her strong play as she sank a 10-footer for birdie on the next hole, while Strand left her birdie attempt short.
“I think on hole 15, I made a birdie there,” she said. “I was one or two up at that point with a couple of holes to play. Then I [told myself to] just stick with it, and see how low you can go from here.”
Fast-forwarding again, but this time to the final hole of the event. Carter striped her tee shot down the middle of the fairway and then proceeded to hit the 3-wood of her life near the front of the green. With pressure mounting and a need to hit a similar shot to Carter’s, Strand pull-hooked her second into the trees left of the green—sealing her fate and Carter’s.
Tapping in her two-foot birdie, the crowd that had gathered around 18 erupted in cheers for the newest winner of the Women’s State Amateur.
Following the trophy presentation and a plethora of congratulations, Carter sloganed her round with the phrase “It is what it is.” She explained that no matter what had happened, good or bad, it happened and there was nothing you could do about it.
Carter said: “I knew it could keep changing throughout the round. So, whatever ended up happening, happened, and it just happened to be in my favor, which obviously is good.”
She played her game: fun, fast and loosy-goosy—a method that gave her the win and a share of the course record for women. She marathoned the event to her own beat and walked away victorious.
“On, Wisconsin” as they say.
TOP-10 LEADERBOARD
1- Carly Carter (+2)
2- Kelli Ann Strand (+6)
3- Emily Cadwell (+13)
4- Brooke Patterson (+14)
5- Madison Gridley (+22)
T6- Claire Moon (+24)
T6- Gabrielle McCord (+24)
T6- Lauren Parish (+24)
T10- Lindsey Lloyd (+25)
T10- Emmy Sundby (+25
Women’s State Amateur Payout
1st Place $850
2nd Place $600
3rd Place $450
4th Place $325
5th Place $200
A WIN IN WHAT WAS THOUGHT TO BE HIS LAST AMATEUR
Beginning his round with two bogeys in his first six holes, Anderson found himself in a position that he had not been in all week—trailing. It was his home course, one he had grown up playing ever since he could first lift a golf club. He was one of the favorites to win the event—being the course-record holder at Idaho Falls Country Club.
Knowing something needed to change, Anderson reflected on advice his son had given him prior to the round: “Dad, sometimes you get frustrated…if it’s not going your way…Just relax. You can make a ton of birdies out here at this golf course, and you can always turn it on.”
Bouncing back from a rough start, Anderson chipped in for a birdie on seven and gained the momentum he had desperately desired—claiming his chip was a good chip but a lucky one at that. Anderson then went on to birdie the eighth to get back to his original score of four-under-par.
Anderson then continued what was an impressive showing of ball-striking. Only being out of position once or twice off the tee for the entire week, yes, the entire week, Anderson hit fairway after fairway and green after green. Placing the pressure on his playing partners and the rest of the State Am field as he continued to trust his game and self with each shot.
“I hit my driver in play all week,” Anderson said. “With my driver, I was never out of position. I was in play all the time..My wedge game and iron game [were] so good this week. I shoot 66 the first day, 31 on the back, and I probably hit it better on the front…I just never made a putt…My ball-striking was really good this week.”
Jeffrey Anderson (center) poses with his wife and children as the newest State Am winner.
After hitting his approach shot over the 14th green, Anderson hit what one spectator called “his second-best hit” after his chip-in on seven. He proceeded to show his soft touch around the greens at IFCC by leaving his chip just inches from the cup on a hole that had a green sloping back to front.
Staying steady at six-under-par, the final group was forced to wait nearly 10 minutes on the 18th tee box as the group in front of them waited to hit their shots into the green.
Wondering away from the small group, Anderson waited patiently in the shade by himself. Preparing for what might be the biggest accomplishment of his golfing “career,” Anderson had checked the leaderboard and saw someone from one of the groups ahead of him had nearly caught him and sat with the lead in the clubhouse at five-under-par.
Knowing that he needed par or better to avoid a playoff with Slocum, the now runner-up, Anderson put his ball in the middle of the fairway off the tee. He then flushed his approach shot to 10 feet on the par-5.
“I already knew [where I stood because] I looked at the scores,” Anderson said. “I had three putts to still win by one. So, it was just staying in the moment.”
After tapping in for a birdie and claiming the next line on the Scott Masinglill Cup—who actually participated in the event this week at the age of 70 and carded a final round 69 (-3)—Anderson lifted his arms over his head in response to the elation felt from a goal he had always wanted: winning the State Amateur at his home club.
“I didn’t know if this day would ever happen,” he stated. “At this point in my career, this was the course that I felt that if I was ever going to win it that this was the place I was going to do it…I’ll probably play another State Am now that I have won, but this was actually, in my mind, going to be my last State Am.”
After what was a long, hot week in Idaho Falls, Anderson was sure to sleep well as the newest winner of the State Amateur.
TOP-10 LEADERBOARD
1- Jeffrey Anderson (-7)
2. Jake Slocum (-5)
3. Nate Smith (-4)
4. Zachary Martin (-2)
T5- Tanner Higham (-1)
T5- Kristopher Sayer (-1)
7- Jason Struhs (E)
T8- Austin French (+1)
T8- Seth Jones (+1)
10- David Bishop (+2)
State Amateur Payout
1st Place $850
2nd Place $600
3rd Place $500
4th Place $450
T-5th Place $375
T-5th Place $375
7th Place $300
T-8th Place $265
T-8th Place $265
10th Place $225
T-11th Place $180
T-11th Place $180
T-11th Place $180
T-14th Place $130
T-14th Place $130
16th Place $100
17th Place $80
T-18th Place $80
T-18th Place $80
20th Place $80
A big thank you to the entire staff at Idaho Falls Country Club! Our next event will be the Senior Amateur at Jerome Country Club from August 4-6, 2022. Click HERE for a complete look at both the Women’s State Amateur and State Amateur leaderboards.