Alvarez and Martirez to meet in final match at PNGA Women’s Amateur; Proteau and Johnson to meet in final of Women’s Mid-Amateur

Renton, Wash. – Julianne Alvarez of Seattle and Samantha Martirez of the Philippines will meet in the final match of the 116th Pacific Northwest Women’s Amateur Championship; while Christina Proteau of Port Alberni, B.C. and Gretchen Johnson of Portland will meet in the finals of the 16th Pacific Northwest Women’s Mid-Amateur.

Both matches will be held Friday, July 21. Alvarez and Martirez will tee off in their 36-hole final match at 7:30 a.m., and Proteau and Johnson will tee off in their 18-hole match at 7:40 a.m.

The two championships are being held concurrently this week on the par-71 Fairwood Golf and Country Club in Renton, Wash. and conducted by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA).

For the match play brackets, tee times, pairings and to follow along with live scoring, visit www.thepnga.org.

To stay connected on social media, follow @PNGALIVE on Twitter for live updates and use the hashtag #PNGAWomensAm.

Alvarez did not have an easy draw in reaching the final match. In this morning’s quarterfinal, Alvarez, a rising junior on the University of Washington women’s golf team, defeated Gigi Stoll of Tigard, Ore. 1-up. Last week Stoll won her third Oregon Women’s Amateur, and is a two-time recipient of the PNGA Women’s Player of the Year award (2014, 2015), and also named the 2013 PNGA Junior Girls’ Player of the Year.

In this afternoon’s semifinal, Alvarez faced Naomi Ko of Victoria, B.C., a member of the Canadian National Team who was named the 2016 PNGA Women’s Player of the Year and also won the 2016 Canadian Junior Girls’ National Championship and qualified for the 2016 LPGA Tour’s Cambia Portland Classic.

A native of New Zealand, Alvarez twice won the New Zealand Amateur (2013, 2015). She was a member of the NCAA national champion Huskies last year, and so far this summer has won the Washington State Women’s Amateur and last week qualified for the 2017 U.S. Women’s Amateur.

Martirez is a rising sophomore at California Baptist University where she was recently named PacWest Freshman of the Year after winning the individual title in the PacWest Championship. This morning she defeated Marianne Li of Bellevue, Wash. 2-up in the quarterfinal match, and then Kenedee Peters of Ephrata, Wash. 3 and 2 in this afternoon’s semifinal.

Proteau, the No. 1 seed entering match play in the Women’s Mid-Amateur, is a three-time PNGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Player of the Year (2012, 2013, 2015), but is looking for her first title in the Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship.

Proteau is five months pregnant with her second child, and says this will be her final competition this season.

In working her way through the Mid-Amateur bracket, Johnson defeated last year’s runner-up, Shawn Farmer of Renton, Wash. 3 and 2 in this morning’s quarterfinal, then defeated last year’s champion and 2016 PNGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Player of the Year Amanda Jacobs of Portland, 1-up, in the semifinal.

First held in 1899, the Pacific Northwest Women’s Amateur is one of the oldest amateur golf championships in the world.

Alvarez and Martirez will look to add their name to the list of past champions that includes Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Famers 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.