Saylar May Won the Wolverine Invitational While Utah Valley Took the Team Title

Southern Utah freshman Saylar May won the Wolverine Invitational by three shots at 8-under 208 on Tuesday, September 15, while Utah Valley claimed the team championship at 11-over 875 at TalonsCove Golf Club in Saratoga Springs. The host Wolverines finished two shots ahead of Wyoming and three ahead of Southern Utah, giving the season-opening tournament an individual champion from Cedar City and a team champion from Orem.

May built the win with consecutive opening rounds of 68, then protected the lead with an even-par 72. Southern Utah Athletics said she stayed three shots clear of the field across 54 holes, and head coach Caylyn McKinlay — listed as Caylyn McKinlay on the school's coaching staff page, and quoted in the recap as Coach McKinlay — praised the freshman for staying composed after putting herself in position on the opening day.

"She put herself in position from the first round and stayed composed all the way through." — Southern Utah head coach Caylyn McKinlay

May turned two opening 68s into a three-shot win

May reached Tuesday at 8 under after back-to-back 4-under rounds. Her final-round 72 did not add to the lead, but nobody erased it. The official Southern Utah recap lists her winning total at 208, three shots ahead of the runner-up.

Southern Utah introduced the freshman from Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, before the event as the winner of the 2025 U19 Provincial Championship, and she converted that junior résumé into a college victory against a 66-player field.

Her score carried a broader Southern Utah finish. The Thunderbirds posted rounds of 301, 295 and 282 for a 14-over 878. That closing 282 was 6 under and the lowest team round recorded by any program in the tournament. Four of SUU's five counting scores either improved or held steady in the final round.

Siriporn "Orchid" Luangnam supplied one of the biggest moves with a closing 68, tying May for the low round of the tournament. Ellie Schoeffler improved in every round — 78, 76, then 69 — as Southern Utah moved past several teams to finish third, one stroke behind runner-up Wyoming. (Southern Utah's recap gives those rounds under the surname Olsen; no Olsen appears on the Thunderbirds' roster or in the five golfers the school entered, both of which list Schoeffler.)

Utah Valley moved from six shots back to the team title

Utah Valley entered the final round in second place at 12 over, six strokes behind Wyoming. The Wolverines finished at 11-over 875, which means the host team played the final round in 1 under while Wyoming closed at 7 over.

Sydney Richards and Mia Pace had put UVU in striking distance by matching even-par 144 totals through Monday's first 36 holes. Both opened with 71s and followed with 73s. The team lineup also included Adley Nelson, Maria Ortiz and Rachel Lillywhite. Utah Valley called the result the fifth team title in program history and the third in a 54-hole event, its second under head coach Juli Erekson and its first since the Utah Tech Trailblazer Invitational in February 2024.

The victory came on the Wolverines' home course in Saratoga Springs, where this week the leaderboard worked as a compact map of Utah women's college golf: Utah Valley first, Southern Utah third, Weber State fourth, Utah Tech tied for eighth and three BYU players competing as individuals.

The Utah leaderboard ran deeper than the top two teams

Weber State finished fourth after a closing round led by Cala Korman. The Wildcats' official recap credited Korman with five birdies in a six-hole stretch, and she finished fifth individually at 1-under.

BYU did not enter a team, but Ava Schroeder placed fourth at 2-under 214. Schroeder's rounds of 71, 72 and 71 produced her first collegiate top-five finish and a career-best 54-hole score. Aadyn Long tied for 12th at 5 over after consecutive even-par rounds, while Berlin Long tied for 19th after closing with a 2-under 70.

Utah Tech tied for eighth, but its final round supplied two development notes. Maria Purroy Galan shot a 2-under 70 and finished 11th at 4-over 220. Freshman Kira Connell closed with an even-par 72 and tied for 26th in her collegiate debut.

Those results came from one event, not a stitched-together statewide ranking. Five Utah schools shared the same course and scoreboard, which made the comparisons unusually clean: the team title stayed with the host, the medalist trophy went south to Cedar City, and top-five individual finishes also went to Provo and Ogden.

Southern Utah's next test comes in Bozeman

Southern Utah returns September 21-22 for the Yellowstone Intercollegiate at Riverside Country Club in Bozeman, Montana. May will arrive as a reigning medalist, while the Thunderbirds will carry the best closing team round from TalonsCove.

Utah Valley's season also starts with a result it can build around rather than a near miss. The Wolverines were six shots off the lead after 36 holes and finished two ahead, a seven-stroke swing over the final round against the team they were chasing.

The Wolverine Invitational ended with two trophies and two different Utah programs holding them. May owned the individual board. Utah Valley owned the team board. The next tournaments will show whether either opening-week result becomes the start of a sustained fall run.

Key facts:

• Individual champion: Southern Utah freshman Saylar May, 8-under 208 (68-68-72), three-shot victory
• Team champion: Utah Valley, 11-over 875, two shots ahead of Wyoming and three ahead of Southern Utah
• Southern Utah finish: Third at 14-over 878; closing 282 was the tournament's lowest team round
• Other Utah team finish: Weber State fourth; Utah Tech tied for eighth
• Other Utah top-five individuals: BYU's Ava Schroeder fourth at 2 under; Weber State's Cala Korman fifth at 1 under
• Venue: TalonsCove Golf Club, Saratoga Springs, Utah
• Dates: September 14-15, 2026
• Next for Southern Utah: Yellowstone Intercollegiate, September 21-22, Riverside Country Club in Bozeman, Montana