Graysen Huff earns medalist honors at PNGA Men’s Amateur

Graysen Huff of Eagle, Idaho shot rounds of 65-66 to easily win medalist honors in stroke-play qualifying for the 117th Pacific Northwest Men’s Amateur Championship, being held this week at The Home Course in DuPont, Wash.

Huff will be the No. 1 seed entering the match play portion of the championship. The Round of 64 will be held Wednesday, July 11, followed by the Rounds of 32 and 16 on Thursday, the quarterfinals and semifinals on Friday, and the championship match on Saturday, July 14. Each match will be contested over 18 holes, with the exception of the final match, which will be played over 36 holes.

Huff blistered the back nine at The Home Course, shooting a combined 10-under-par over the two days. His only hiccup in today’s round was a double-bogey on the par-4 seventh hole, but he eagled the next hole, a 561-yard par-5, to immediately make up for it.

“I guess I just feel at home here,” said Huff, after today’s round. “My putting was the difference. I made a lot of putts today and yesterday. And I was hitting the driver very well. It’s open off the tee here and that helps, but you have to put the shots in the right spots.”

Huff, a rising senior at the University of Auburn, was named PNGA Junior Boys’ Player of the Year in 2014, and in 2015, while still in high school, was given an exemption to play in the Web.com Tour’s Albertsons Boise Open.

“I’m part of a really good team at Auburn, a good bunch of guys and that really helps,” he said. “We practice and play as much as we can together, and it’s really starting to show up in my game.”

In looking toward match play, Huff said, “Match play is hard. It’s very different. You have to start fresh in every match. From now on (in the bracket) it’s just a grind to make it through, but I’m looking forward to it.”

The cut to make it into match play came at 4-over-par. Some of the 64 players to make it into the match play bracket include Derek Bayley of Rathdrum, Idaho, a recent graduate of Washington State University who finished runner-up finish in last year’s championship; Colby Dean of Eagle, Idaho who won the Idaho State Amateur last month; Joe Neuheisel of Scottsdale, Ariz., the 21-year-old son of former Washington and UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel; Reid Hatley of Hayden Lake, Idaho, who was the PNGA Men’s Mid-Amateur Player of the Year for three consecutive years (2015-17); and Gabe Spach of Seattle, who won the 2016 PNGA Junior Boys’ Amateur, held at The Home Course.

This is the second time The Home Course has hosted the PNGA Men’s Amateur, having previously been the venue in 2009.

Click here for complete information about this year’s championship, including tee times and bracket pairings. To follow along with live scoring, visit thepnga.org.

Past champions of the PNGA Men’s Amateur include names such as Tiger Woods, Jeff Quinney, Ben Crane, Jeff Coston, Nick Flanagan, Jim McLean and Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Famers Chandler Egan, Harry Givan, Jack Westland, Bud Ward and George Holland, among many others.

One of the oldest amateur golf championships in the world, players will compete for the Macan Cup, which is named after legendary golf course designer A.V. Macan, a member of the Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame and winner of this championship in 1913.

The Pacific Northwest Men’s Amateur Championship is one of 15 major, regional, amateur championships for men, women, juniors, and seniors conducted annually by the PNGA throughout the Northwest.

Opened in 2007, The Home Course is cooperatively owned and operated by the Washington State Golf Association and Pacific Northwest Golf Association, and along with hosting the 2009 PNGA Men’s Amateur has been the site of numerous local, regional and national championships, including being the companion course to Chambers Bay for the 2010 U.S. Amateur and the venue for the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links. The Home Course will also be the companion course to Chambers Bay for the 2021 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball.

Click here for a complete listing of championships held at The Home Course.

The PNGA was founded on February 4, 1899. It is a 501c3 charitable, international, amateur golf association dedicated to preserving the true spirit of golf by supporting its allied associations, conducting quality championships, and promoting activities beneficial to golfers in the Pacific Northwest. For more than a century, the Association has been a pioneer in developing competitions and services and its mission has grown and evolved. Today, the PNGA remains committed to being a truly regional organization providing benefits and services to its members and member clubs throughout the Northwest.

To join the conversation on social media, follow PNGA Championships on Twitter @PNGALIVE and use the hashtag #PNGAMensAm for live tweets and updates.