62nd PNGA Junior Boys’ Amateur and 61st PNGA Junior Girls’ Amateur Being Held at The Home Course

The 62nd Pacific Northwest Junior Boys’ Amateur and 61st Pacific Northwest Junior Girls’ Amateur are being held this week at The Home Course in DuPont, Wash. The region’s premier championships for junior golfers traditionally attracts the strongest fields of the season from throughout the Northwest.

The championships will be held concurrently August 15-19, and are being conducted by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA).

Both championships consist of 36 holes of stroke play qualifying, to be held August 15 and 16, to determine seeding for the match play portion of the championships. All matches are contested over 18 holes in a single-elimination format, with the exception of the Junior Boys’ final match on Friday, August 19, which will be played over 36 holes.

For tee times, pairings and to follow along with live scoring, click forJunior Boys’ and Junior Girls’. To stay connected on social media, follow @PNGALIVE on Twitter for live updates, and much more, and use the hashtags #PNGAJrBoysAm and #PNGAJrGirlsAm.

Both championships are considered as counting events for the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

In the Junior Boys’, players to watch for are Joe Highsmith of Lakewood, Wash., who last week held the lead at the Washington State Men’s Amateur in the final round before missing the playoff by a single stroke. Earlier this summer, Highsmith finished second in the WJGA State Championship, was the qualifying medalist for the U.S. Junior Amateur, and won the AJGA Ryan Moore Junior Championship.

Also in the field are Spencer Tibbits of Vancouver, Wash. who this summer won both the Oregon Junior Amateur and Oregon Junior Stroke Play Championship, and also qualified for the 2016 U.S. Junior.

The rich history of the PNGA Junior Boys’ Amateur Championship includes past champions such as World Golf Hall of Fame member Fred Couples, Web.com Tour players Alex Prugh and Andrew Yun, and John Bodenhamer, the former CEO and executive director of the PNGA who now is a senior director at the USGA.

In the Junior Girls’, players to watch for are Brittany Kwon of Bremerton, Wash., who won this championship in 2014 as a 13-year-old; Ellie Slama of Salem, Ore., who was named the 2015 PNGA Junior Girls’ Player of the Year; Haley Greb of Pendleton, Ore., who earlier this summer won the Oregon Junior Amateur; and Montgomery Ferreira of University Place, Wash., whose sister Jordan won this championship in 2012.

The storied history of the PNGA Junior Girls’ Amateur includes past champions Jo Ann Washam, Peggy Conley, Joan Edwards-Powell, Mary Budke, and JoAnne Gunderson Carner, all of whom would later be inducted into the Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame after storied amateur and professional careers. Other past champions include current LPGA Tour players Paige Mackenzie and Jimin Kang.

To be eligible for the Pacific Northwest Junior Boys’ and Girls’ Amateurs, contestants must not have reached their 18th birthday by the final day of the competition.

These championships are two of 15 regional championships conducted annually by the PNGA.

Opened in 2007, The Home Course is cooperatively owned and operated by the PNGA and Washington State Golf Association, and 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. It will also be the companion course to Chambers Bay for the 2019 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball.