Kern Earns Medalist Honors at 114th PNGA Men’s Amateur; Match Play Bracket Set
Charlie Kern of Mercer Island, Wash. shot rounds of 63-70, a combined 9-under par over the 36 holes of stroke play qualifying, to earn medalist honors in the 114th Pacific Northwest Men’s Amateur Championship, being held at Sunriver (Ore.) Resort. Kern will be the No. 1 seed going into the match play portion of the championship, which will begin tomorrow on the resort’s Meadows course.
A full field of 168 players began the championship, and after the two qualifying rounds there are 64 players who now advance to single-elimination match play. Each match will be contested over 18 holes, with the final match, to be held Sunday, July 12, being played over 36 holes.
After the two qualifying rounds, Kern was tied with Aaron Whalen of Ephrata, Wash. at 133. Kern won the playoff with a birdie on the first extra hole for medalist honors.
Kern, who just graduated from William & Mary in Virginia where he played on the men’s golf team, had blistered the resort’s Woodlands course, shooting an 8-under par 63 despite the round being stopped due to lightning and having to come back this morning to play six holes and finish the round. He then had to hustle over to the resort’s Meadows course to play the second round of qualifying.
“This championship means a lot to me,” Kern said afterward. “I’ve known about this event since I was 11 and watching other guys get it done, and now to be here and do it feels great.”
Kern made it to the quarterfinals of last year’s championship, and last week finished T-7 at the Sahalee Players Championship, the first leg of the Western Swing.
The Pacific Northwest Men’s Amateur is one of the oldest amateur golf championships in the world. Past champions 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.
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.
Other notables to make it into match play include UCLA freshman and last year’s runner-up Cole Madey of West Linn, Ore.; Tyler Salsbury of Enumclaw, Wash., champion of the 2014 Washington State Men’s Amateur; Sam Warkentin of Bainbridge Island, Wash., the 2014 PNGA Junior Boys’ champion; Dale Brandt-Richards of Australia who earned medalist honors and the No. 1 seed in last year’s championship and recently finished T-5 at the Sahalee Players Championship; Alex Wrenn of Lake Oswego, Ore. who recently shared medalist honors in the Oregon Amateur at 8-under par after 36 holes; Alistair Docherty of Vancouver, Wash., who won the 2015 Oregon Amateur; and Dylan Wu of Medford, Ore. who finished runner-up to Docherty.
