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Markham, Gettleman Inaugural UGA Utah Junior State Amateur Champions at Wasatch
Ordinarily, performances like the ones that Lincoln Markham and Ashley Gettleman delivered Wednesday June 19 would have merited some research of the golf tournament’s history.
Even in a long-running event, Markham’s margin of victory and Gettleman’s comeback might have challenged records. Let’s just say that as the UGA Utah Junior State Amateur Championships evolve, what happened in the final matches of the inaugural competition at Wasatch Mountain Golf Course will be difficult to duplicate.
1st UGA Utah Junior State Amateur champion, Lincoln Markham (Photo: Fairways Media/Randy Dodson)
Markham’s 7-and-6 victory over Lance Loughton, formerly the hottest match-play golfer among Utah’s juniors, and Gettleman’s back-nine rally for a 2-and-1 win over two-time Class 6A medalist Aadyn Long in the Girls’ event will give them lasting distinctions.
The winners arrived in Midway from different directions and triumphed in varying ways Wednesday on the Lake Course. Markham is from St. George and is spending much of the summer in Northern Utah; Gettleman is a Northern Californian who was just trying to fill her tournament calendar. “This one looked really big and really well-run,” she said.
Inaugural runner-up, Lance Loughton (Photo: Fairways Media/Randy Dodson)
Loughton entered the final duel with a 10-0 record in match play in June, between the Utah Junior Golf Association’s 41st annual event and the UGA’s new competition. In the semifinals vs. St. George’s Brock Porter (a rematch of the UJGA semis), Loughton lost a 3-up lead with five holes to play, but steadied himself and won the first extra hole.
In a snapshot of what the UGA event is all about, with no age divisions, Markham was tied with 14-year-old Mack Herzog through 15 holes in the round of 32. Markham secured a 2-and-1 win, while four matches went to extra holes and No. 2 seed Dylan Winona (Markham’s Crimson Cliffs High School teammate) was upset by No. 31 Jesse Jones of Ogden.
Markham topped No. 1 seed Toatele Ofahengaue in the round of 16 and was a 3-and-2 winner over Las Vegas’ Bridger Johnson in the semifinals. Markham and Johnson had eliminated the Shelley brothers, Austin and Jackson, in the quarterfinals.
Markham graduated from Crimson Cliffs in May after playing in the Mustangs’ loaded lineup. He’s headed to BYU’s golf program in 2026 after a church mission. Loughton, who lives in Mountain Green, will be a Morgan High senior.
History will show that Loughton held a 1-up lead in the final match, thanks to a birdie on the par-4 No. 2. Markham then won eight of the last nine holes they played, five of them via birdies.
Lincoln Markham, a BYU Men’s Golf signee, defeated Morgan High’s Lance Loughton 7 and 6 at Wasatch Mountain GC. (Photo: Fairways Media/Randy Dodson)
“Everything really felt great this week,” Markham said.
In the final match, “I didn’t really make any mistakes,” he added, “just played some solid, consistent golf. Thankfully, that was enough.”
Loughton would like to have staged a stronger duel, but Markham “caught me on a bad day,” he said.
That’s how Long viewed her back nine, after being 3 up at the turn. At that point, having the match end by No. 17 seemed likely. The twist was that Gettleman’s run of five wins in six holes (Nos. 10-15) put her ahead to stay.
California’s Ashley Gettleman defeated Lone Peak High star Aadyn Long 2 and 1. (Photo: Fairways Media/Randy Dodson)
The outcome was “a little upsetting,” said Long, who was the stroke-play medalist by six shots with a 65.
She cited “just a couple mistakes that just killed me,” adding that not claiming the trophy was tough to take “because I had it.”
Inaugural UGA Utah Girls’ Junior State Amateur runner-up, Aadyn Long. (Photo: Faiways Media/Randy Dodson.)
The par-4 No. 11 was pivotal in multiple ways. Gettleman made the only birdie of the match with a 25-foot putt from the fringe. Long wondered if her opponent had played out of turn, but didn’t press the issue. In any case, dwelling on that sequence of events got her “a little out of rhythm,” she said.
Meanwhile, Gettleman steadied herself. “I was kind of getting mad on the front nine, but I think it’s good getting mad, because I feel like I play better,” and she said, “and it shows you have heart.”
16-year old Ashley Gettleman had to get by Lone Peak High’s 6A champions Aadyn Long, Ashley Nelson and Saydie Wagner to claim the newly created title of UGA Utah Girls’ Junior State Amateur champion. (Photo: Fairways Media/Randy Dodson)
The Californian completed a remarkable run, considering she beat the Lone Peak High School golfers who had finished 1-2-3 in the 6A state tournament in May. Long, Adley Nelson and Saydie Wagner all advanced to the quarterfinals. Gettleman ousted Wagner and Nelson in the next two rounds before challenging Long, who defeated Hazel Peters of Hawaii in the semifinals.
Nelson had eliminated Ashley Lam, the two-time 5A medalist and UJGA match-play winner, in the first round of the 16-golfer bracket.
Long was upset by Campbell Kato in the first round of the UJGA event, but dominated her first three opponents at Wasatch, much as Gettleman did.
Story written by Fairways Media senior writer Kurt Kragthore. Many thanks to tournament host facility, Wasatch Mountain GC at Wasatch Mountain State Park. Click here for complete match play bracket scoring.