115th PNGA Women’s Amateur and 15th Women’s Mid-Amateur Championships Held This Week

The Prospector Course at Suncadia in Cle Elum, Wash. will host some of the best women amateur golfers in the Pacific Northwest and beyond as the 115th Pacific Northwest Women’s Amateur and 15th Pacific Northwest Women’s Mid-Amateur championships will be held concurrently July 19-23.

Both championships are conducted by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA).

The Women’s Amateur begins with 36 holes of stoke play qualifying on July 19-20, followed by 18-hole single-elimination match play for the low 32 players, with the final match being contested over 36 holes on July 23. The field will include players representing California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alberta, Texas, Australia and the Philippines.

For tee times, pairings and to follow along with live scoring, visit the home pages for the PNGA Women’s Amateur and PNGA Women’s Mid-Amateur.

Last year’s championship concluded at BanBury Golf Course in Eagle, Idaho when Brooke Hamilton of Auckland, New Zealand birdied the 36th hole of the final match for a 1-up victory over Alivia Brown of Gig Harbor, Wash.

There is an exceptionally strong field in this year’s Women’s Amateur, led by Princess Superal of Sun City, Calif. who won the 2014 U.S. Girls’ Junior, the 2016 Hong Kong Ladies Amateur, and was medalist at the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball (with partner Pauline del Rosario) where she made it to the semifinals.

Others in the field include Jisoo Keel of Coquitlam, B.C. who recently won the BC Women’s Amateur, and was twice named the PNGA Junior Girls’ Player of the Year (2011, 2012); Kelly Hooper of Spokane, Wash., who won the 2015 PNGA Junior Girls’ Amateur; Naomi Ko of Victoria, B.C., the 2014 PNGA Junior Girls’ Player of the Year, and who qualified for this year’s U.S. Women’s Open; Kinsley Bonfilio of Boise, Idaho, who won this year’s Idaho Match Play Championship; Marianne Li of Bellevue, Wash., who last month won the Washington State Women’s Amateur; and Gigi Stoll of Tigard, Ore., the 2014 and 2015 PNGA Women’s Player of the Year who finished runner-up at this year’s Oregon Amateur.

In the Women’s Mid-Amateur, former champions Amanda Jacobs (2014) of Portland, Kareen Markle (2005, 2007, 2013) of Meridian, Idaho and Alison Murdoch (2006, 2008) of Victoria, B.C. will be challenged by a strong field that includes Christina Proteau of Port Alberni, B.C., a three-time PNGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Player of the Year (2012-14); Shawn Farmer of Renton, Wash., who won the 2014 Washington State Women’s Mid-Amateur and was named to the 2015 USGA Washington Women’s State Team; among many others.

Jacobs was named the 2015 PNGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Player of the Year, and Murdoch was inducted into the PNGA Hall of Fame in 2013.

First held in 1899, the Pacific Northwest Women’s Amateur Championship is one of the oldest amateur golf championships in the world. Past champions include Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Famers who made up the Golden Age of female golfers in the Northwest such as JoAnne Gunderson Carner, Jo Ann Washam, Pat Lesser Harbottle, Edean Ihlanfeldt, Violet Pooly Sweeney, Marcia Fisher, and Betty Jean Hulteng, among others. Past champions also include many others who would later go on to the LPGA Tour, such as Jimin Kang, Peggy Conley, Ruth Jessen and Shirley Englehorn.

The Pacific Northwest Women’s Amateur and Mid-Amateur are two of 15 major, regional, amateur championships for men, women, juniors, and seniors conducted annually by the PNGA throughout the Northwest.