OGDEN — One for the thumb? It’s still a possibility for golfer Kelsey Chugg.

Chugg, a former Weber State golfer, will attempt to win her fifth Utah Women’s State Amateur championship Thursday at the Ogden Golf and Country Club after advancing through Wednesday’s quarterfinals and semifinals.

Chugg dispatched current BYU golfer Kerstin Fotu 5 and 4 in the quarters and incoming BYU golfer Berlin Long 3 and 1 in the semis.

Chugg advanced to Thursday’s 18-hole, 8 a.m. final where she will face, you guessed it, another BYU golfer in sophomore Adeline Anderson.

Anderson defeated Sacramento State golfer Tess Blair, the 2021 Big Sky Conference individual champion, 2 and 1 in their semifinal match about 10 minutes before Chugg defeated Long.

Both semifinal matches ended on the 17th hole amid the drone of automobile traffic on Washington Boulevard.

Chugg came into the 17th hole with a 2-up lead, so a tie would seal the match for her. Instead, she made a long, breaking birdie putt after Long had missed her own birdie putt.

“I really just wanted to hit a good putt. I’d hit a few poor putts coming down the stretch and wanted to release the putter head and fortunately, it happened. It went in and made things less stressful,” Chugg said.

It was a little bit of an ironic finish for Chugg. She had previously striped drives right down the fairways on hole Nos. 12-14 and 16, but couldn’t get the approach shots close enough and couldn’t make the birdie putts when presented.

On the 17th hole, her drive found a spot in the rough under a tree on the right side — but her approach shot gave her a twisting birdie putt and it went in.

“Not ho-hum, this was a lot of work to get here and I definitely had to earn my place in the final this year,” Chugg said.

Chugg went 1 up with a par on the second hole and never led by more than two strokes, but the match was never tied after the first hole and she never trailed. Long had a handful of chances to cut into the lead but left some putts short.

In the quarterfinals against Fotu, Chugg made three straight birdies on the front nine to take a 2-up lead after eight holes. Consecutive birdies followed on holes 10 and 11 plus another one for good measure on the 13th hole.

Matching pars on the 14th hole ended the match with four holes left and some time for Chugg to rest up for the afternoon semifinal. Even with the shorter first match, Chugg had to dig deep to get past Long, a recent Lone Peak High graduate, in the semis.

She spoke about that and then, while speaking with reporters in the patio, pointed out a celebrity behind her.

“I got a little tired on the back nine today, hot and tired — got the Backstreet Boys rolling up here, it’s awesome,” Chugg said, nodding her head toward AJ McLean, a member of the famous boy band who was in a cart about 12 feet from where she was sitting.

The Backstreet Boys — they’re playing in Salt Lake City on Thursday night — apparently spent their off day playing golf in South Ogden.

According to the Utah Golf Association, Beverly Nelson won eight state amateur championships (1955, 1961, 1966-68, 1975-76, 1979).

Four golfers have won six state amateur championships: Florence Halloran (1917-21, 1924), Helen Hofmann (1935-36, 1938-39, 1941-42), Mary Lou Baker (1945-47, 1950, 1952-53) and Marcia Thayne (1969-74).

Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.

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