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Jul 18, 2023

Aiden Krafft earns medalist honors and No. 1 seed at 121st PNGA Men’s Amateur

Players walk down the 16th hole at Chambers Bay during the second round of stroke play qualifying. (PNGA/Oliver McKenna)

University Place, Wash. – Aiden Krafft of Albuquerque, N.M. shot rounds of 70-65 to earn medalist honors and the No. 1 seed in match play at the 121st Pacific Northwest Men’s Amateur Championship, hosted this week July 17-22 at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash.

After two rounds of stroke play qualifying, held at The Home Course in DuPont, Wash. yesterday, July 17 and at Chambers Bay today July 18, the top-64 players have advanced to the match play bracket. The championship will now transition to single elimination match play.

Championship links:

Krafft entered the day three shots off the lead after opening with a 2-under par 70 in Monday’s opening round at The Home Course. He lit up the golf course today at Chambers Bay with an impressive eight birdies against just one bogey, and vaulted up the leader board into first place to claim medalist honors by two shots over Ben Borgida or Shoreline, Wash.

A rising sophomore on the University of Oregon men’s golf team, Krafft had four top-20 finishes during his freshman season and was named a Pac-12 All-Freshman Honorable Mention.

Jace Minni of Delta, B.C. tees off to begin his round during the second round of stroke play qualifying. (PNGA/Oliver McKenna)

Some other notable players to advance:

  • No. 3 seed Jack Cantlay (Los Alamitos, Calif.) – rising sophomore on the Long Beach State University men’s golf team; had three top-12 finishes during his freshman season and was named the Big West Freshman of the Year; younger brother of eight-time PGA TOUR winner Patrick Cantlay.
  • No. 10 seed Taehoon Song (Seattle, Wash.) – finished 2nd at the 2022 Husky Invitiational; finished 4th at the 2023 Washington Men’s Amateur; rising senior on the University of Washington men’s golf team; currently ranked No. 350 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).
  • No. 13 seed Robbie Ziegler (Tualatin, Ore.) – named the 2021 PNGA Men’s Mid-Amateur Player of the Year; qualified for and played in six U.S. Amateur Championships; former collegiate player at the University of Oregon.
  • No. 57 seed Jace Minni  (Delta, B.C.) – won the 2022 Washington Men’s Amateur; qualified for the 2023 U.S. Amateur; finished 2nd at the 2023 B.C. Amateur; rising senior on the Gonzaga University men’s golf team.

The round of 64 gets underway Wednesday, July 19, at 7:00am; followed by the rounds of 32 and 16 on Thursday; with the quarterfinals and semifinals on Friday. The 36-hole championship match will take place on Saturday, July 22.

First held in 1899, the PNGA Men’s Amateur is 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.

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.

This year marks one of the strongest international fields in the championship’s long history.

The PNGA Men’s Amateur is one of 11 major, regional, amateur championships for men, women, juniors and senior conducted annually by the PNGA throughout the Northwest.

About Chambers Bay

Chambers Bay opened in 2007 and was designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. Owned by Pierce County, the municipal course has already been the site of numerous regional and national championships, including the 2010 U.S. Amateur and becoming the first course in the Pacific Northwest to host the U.S. Open, which it did in 2015. It also hosted the 2021 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball and the 2022 U.S. Women’s Amateur. Chambers Bay has twice hosted the Washington Men’s Amateur (2013, 2020) and the Pacific Coast Amateur (2017, 2021). The Home Course has served as the assisting course to Chambers Bay for two USGA national championships. Visit chambersbaygolf.com and thehomecourse.com for more information.